


Miracle Pie House

by SassyLassy



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Asexual Character, Bisexual Male Character, Female Homosexuality, Humanstuck, Illustrated, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Male Homosexuality, Multi, Trans Character, blood reference
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-02-08 20:13:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 41,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1954725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassyLassy/pseuds/SassyLassy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat Vantas is an unemployed accountant who finds himself pulled into the world of baked goods by his friend Gamzee Makara who is in desperate need of help running his business, Miracle Pie House. We also get a look into the lives of the three amigos who run The Minotaur. Basically slice of life dealing with relationships, identities, and friendship. All the good stuff with a bit of shipping slipped in for extra good measure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Call

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by an ask my good friend Idefix got over on tumblr, by fellow tumblr user volt299. So full credit for this story idea goes to volt!

Karkat could hardly believe that Gamzee had managed the bakery as long as he had. To think the lay about no hoper who had spent most of his college education getting high as fuck and wandering around campus while wearing his boxers outside of his jeans had the brain capacity to run an actual business was one huge miracle. The day he’d learned that he had opened his own bakery, and had actual customers who ate the stuff he made was one of the most surprising days of his life, why, his eyebrows had almost merged with his hair.

They did however remain firmly attached to his eyes, practically, giving the world his continuous scowl which had started in grade school and had yet to end. Some even joked he’d die scowling about something, and be the angriest cadaver in the morgue.

But the shock regarding Gamzee was short lived, for late one night at some ungodly hour when most people would be sleeping, Karkat Vantas got a phone call.

Luckily for whoever was calling, Karkat suffered horrible insomnia and barely got a wink of sleep most nights. Add to that the fact he was unemployed since his not so graceful exit from his last place of employment, he didn’t have any place to rush off to in the mornings even if he didn’t get any sleep. He somehow tore his eyes away from Failure to Launch (his tenth time watching it this year) to reach for his phone. The name showing up on the screen already got him prepared for a verbal scowl, and hit the receive button. 

“What is it, did you swallow your keys again?” he asked, not even bothering with pleasantries.

"Nah, nah man…" Gamzee’s dream, almost melodic, voice came through the phone. He did have to pause to laugh, however. "Shiiit I do remember that though, you had my stomach pumped and everything.."

"That’s because you swallowed your entire key ring including that stupid flashy goat thing you’d attached to it, you chucklefuck. You couldn’t have passed that shit no matter how much they lubed your asshole. Now what do you want?" Karkat asked as he reached for his drink, almost knocking it over his laptop in the process. Thankfully the ginger-headed Vantas avoided such a horrifying accident despite how sleep deprived he felt.

"Oh yeah. Man, Karkat. You all up and still good at the numbers game?" Gamzee asked, sounding fairly hopeful.

"Gamzee. I studied to be an accountant, remember?" Karkat asked, blandly. "I was head of the stupid mathematician group in not only grade school, and high school, but state region champion for four years running? Do you remember any of this?" he asked, already feeling even more tired than before by having to dredge all of this up to the idiot on the phone. "You even came to most of my competitions, remember, you tried to stage dive that one time I let you on stage."

There was only silence as his answer.

"I’ll save us both face and assume you just plain forgot," he grumbled, rubbing tiredly at his green eyes as he shut them tightly. "And answer your stupid question with yes, Gamzee, I am still very much ‘still good at the numbers’ game."

"Oh man sweet!" Karkat could literally feel the beaming smile coming from the other through the phone. How did he do that?

"Why is that sweet, exactly? And has it got anything to do with why you’re ringing me at four twenty one in the morning?"

"I need help, Karkat." Gamzee blurted out. "I been running this joint so well but, man, I keep having my zone out moments and I been messing up orders and making wrong stuff all over the place. I do great with bakin’ shit to sell face to face but with orders and catering, man that mother fucking business be slipping worse than Eridan’s love life."

"So you’re in trouble." Karkat assumed. "And you’re calling me because…." he had a good idea why, he just didn’t want to take too many guesses since if he did that too much Gamzee may well assume he was an oracle or some shit. Wouldn’t be the first time.

"Cuz, Karkat, you’re my mother fucking best friend and the smartest guy I all know who digs numbers and I need your help! So I make the right orders for the right days and get shit done proper." the other explained, "Please Karkat I don’t want my place all drying up already!"

"You’re offering me a job?" Karkat asked, slowly. He had been out of work for the past month, and even with his amazing counting skills he couldn’t live off nothing with no pay income. He’d been living off his savings which, he hated to admit, had been beginning to dwindle down the drain.

"Hell yeah!" Gamzee chirped, "I wanna hire you, man, and you can all up and be all practical with your magic math fingers and keep shit going!"

"I don’t think that’s an official job title, Gamzee." Karkat sighed as he leaned back against his bedhead, rubbing his free hand up through his tangled red hair. It needed a wash, stat. Much as he tolerated Gamzee on a daily basis, the idea of working with him, nay, for him seemed a little too much. But at the same time he needed some kind of income to make his life tolerable and not have his power or worse, his internet, cut. Because then he would have to pay re-connection fees and they were like a swift kick to your nuts after being elbowed in the stomach.

"Please Karkat, please.”

Karkat had never heard Gamzee beg like this. Well, there was that one time, but it was such a dark and unpleasant memory for both men that neither of them spoke of it. It was a moment they both surely could never forget, as well as a moment which had cemented their friendship so deep that you could probably find dead gangsters using that cement as cement shoes at the bottom of the ocean. He sighed, heavily. “Look, fine. On a probationary period I’ll come and help you out, IF I get weekly payment, and I don’t have to do no stupid sign waving outside your place.”

Gamzee’s high pitched squeal of thanks thrust into Karkat’s ear, squeezed between the space between his brain and skull, before popping out of his other ear. Karkat pulled the phone away, wondering if he could now sue for permanent damage to his hearing. He could hear the other saying ‘thank you’ over and over again, before launching into a tirade of information about when he’ll want him in at the bakery, what to wear (be all fancy like but not too fancy like we ain’t penguins), and that he owed him so much for his he has no idea how much.

He allowed the other to continue his thanks, and ranting, until Gamzee abruptly said that he had to get going since he had to open the place and get working on the early morning donuts which the local police always took great interest in. Then he promptly hung up, leaving Karkat with a dial tone.

"…huh." Karkat set his phone down. So he had a job. First time in a month and he was finally employed again, only he was employed by the same guy who used to try and climb through his second story window when they were eight and wound up falling off and breaking his arm and needing a cast. The same guy who used to skip school to go to the beach, and come back to school with the worst possible sun burn anybody had ever seen. And the same idiot who had streaked across campus wearing nothing but his shoes, and holding the college’s mascots head between his legs to save what decency he had.

"Shit. What have I gotten myself into?"


	2. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat shows up for work at Miracle Pie House where he’s greeted by the rag-tag team that Gamzee has working for him, and learns just what he’s going to have to battle through to get Gamzee’s business back on its big clown shoed feet.

Miracle Pie House had a good location, Karkat had to admit that much. Right in the middle of the central business district in town, right across the street from where the main mall strip was set up. There were always people going by, either on their way to work or school, or simply going into town to do some serious shopping. And who couldn’t resist the temptation of a bakery? It had a fairly bright sign above it (complete with a nice looking pie), and a large window store front that showed off the treats that were available inside. Once entering the store you were smothered by the smell of freshly baked goods, and hanging on a small island set up in the middle of the store was some hanging prongs, next to some plates of various sizes and colours.

Basically you took one of each, went to the treats on display, picked what you wanted and paid for them at the counter. There you were given the take away option, or the option of sitting outside to enjoy your cake with a hot drink which was also available. Of course small pies were the specialty, ranging in various flavours, mostly traditional but there were some that had Karkat raising his eyebrows. Cotton candy flavoured pie? Never heard of such a thing, but of course Gamzee would be the one to invent it… he’d had an obsession with that stuff since they were small.

There were already some people, students obviously, snacking on some freshly made donuts at the small tables out the front when Karkat rocked up wearing his ‘smart casual’ gear. Gamzee was hardly a stickler for appearance so he doubted the guy would shoo him out of his store for wearing sneakers of all things. He didn’t see Gamzee first off, of course. First person he saw was the cashier that Gamzee had hired when he’d opened the store first, and oh how he had boasted about how wonderfully mirthful she was when Karkat had asked about her.

"Hi there!" she greeted, and Karkat fought past the want to just stare at her head, and fairly pale complexion. She had no hair, that much was obvious; even her eyebrows had vacated her body entirely. To hide her bald head, however, she wore a light green coloured head scarf with had, amazingly, cherries on it. "How can I help you?" she asked, friendly and chipper as ever it almost stung Karkat’s demeanor entirely.

"Yeah, you can. I’m looking for Gamzee Makara, ah," he paused to look at her name tag. "Calliope."

"Oh! You must be Mister Vantas," Calliope exclaimed, Karkat now picking up on her exceptionally strong accent. She’d come from England, clearly, but he’d never be able to pinpoint where since there was all manner of accepts from that powerful little island of rain and Corgis. "Yes, Mister Makara told us you would be arriving!" she turned her head to the serving window where you could see straight through into the kitchen. "Mister Egbert, Miss Crocker? Could one of you please fetch Mister Makara? Mister Vantas is here!"

Karkat wasn’t so keen on being called Mister Vantas. That was his father, he, meanwhile, was happily Karkat. Then again this girl didn’t look that old, barely nineteen, maybe twenty? But he wasn’t that old! Speaking of old, however, a slightly wrinkled face appeared through the server window and the older man looked out at Karkat in silence for a moment. He had a comb over in a weak attempt to probably hide a bald patch despite the fact he was wearing a blue hair net, but he had fairly kind looking eyes though he was certain he had a certain twinkle in his eye that spelled out trickery of some sort.

"Why sure thing Calli," he said, voice far more jovial than Karkat would have assumed by his clean cut appearance and age. "Janey, think you can manage?" he asked.  
"Boy howdy can I." a voice came from the back, clearly belonging to this Janey Crocker.

"He shouldn’t be too long." smiled Calliope, and Karkat just nodded as he stepped back in case any more customers arrived. Which they did, and Karkat watched as the people milled around grabbing pastries and what not, some of them ordering coffee or tea and Calliope would swing on over to the big metal machine which she operated diligently to make the drinks in record time.

Indeed it didn’t take too long at all for Gamzee too appear, though. A side door behind the counter pushed open and Gamzee, in all his tall, purple haired glory came stepping out. He was wearing an apron that was stained with flour and pie colours, even his hands were caked in flower and his nails had it thickly caked under his nails. He smiled immediately as he spotted Karkat, and actually jumped right over the counter as if he was jumping a hurdle. The customers who had just been filing out laughed in amusement, but Gamzee paid little to no attention to them.

"Karkat! Aw man I’m so mother fucking happy to see you!" he smiled, grabbing one of Karkat’s hands and shook it roughly. "I didn’t rightly think you were taking me seriously this morning!"

"I’m always serious at half past four in the mornings." Karkat said, looking down at his hand being grasped in Gamzee’s. The other had his shirt sleeves rolled up, revealing a colourful array of tattoos that his forearms had. There was some barbed wire, the ocean, and his zodiac sign the mighty Capricorn. And glancing up at him he wasn’t at all to discover Gamzee had dyed his hair purple, all throughout college it had been every single fucking colour of the rainbow. No wonder he’d gone into business for himself, nobody would hire a guy like Gamzee if his life depended on it.

"Brother and sisters I want y’all to gather your sweet selves ‘round!" Gamzee suddenly sung, and the door which lead to the baking back room was pushed open and Karkat watched as the tall, older man exited only to be followed by a shorter young woman who was probably closer to his and Gamzee’s age than Calliope was. Her hair was short, curly and black despite being hidden behind a red hairnet, and she wore bright red glasses which only stood out even more brightly against her chocolate brown complexion. This must be Jane. "All right guys, this here is Karkat Vantas I told you about this morning." he patted Karkat’s shoulder, smearing flour and jam against his shirt. "He’s gonna be joining our sweet group of employees here at Miracle Pie House."

He gestured to his other employees. “Lemme all up and introduce you, Karkat. This fine little lady is Calliope Umbra. She’s our little money lady who meets and greets all our fine customers and takes their money, with the additional talent of making the best coffee in the city.”

Karkat nodded to the girl, even if he’d met her beforehand. She was blushing, the pink on her pale cheeks standing out almost violently, obviously flattered by Gamzee’s praise. She even lifted a hand to wave slightly.

"And here is James Egbert, but we all up and call him Mister Egbert." Gamzee went on to explain, "He helps me out back with the sweet baked goods. He’s the best at cakes man, you ain’t tasted a cake till you had one of Mister Egberts goods."

"You flatter me, truly." Mister Egbert snorted.

"Last but not least is the lovely lady Jane Crocker." Gamzee gestured to the dark skinned lady, "She’s another baker but she makes best donuts in town I swear I got cops lining up to taste her wares no matter what time of day."

"I make pretty tasty buns too." she winked playfully, to which Gamzee honked in amusement. Karkat had never understood that habit of Gamzee’s, ever since they met the other would literally honk when he was really amused, or super happy about something. Seemed his employees were accepting of it, since none of them looked concerned or disturbed by it. After all, if the man employing you had a quirk you wouldn’t make a habit of pointing it out. Even if he was easy going like Gamzee was.

"Any way, he’s all here to help me keep my head in the game and my numbers all straight cuz we ain’t wanting another mishap like that catering job last week. Or the week before that. Or the week before that." Gamzee’s tone grew more and more depressed with every word until he sighed, hanging his head down sadly; his pierced ears glinting in the light before he suddenly stood to his full height again, pulling Karkat right against his side. "But he’s gonna be here helping us out! And that makes him an important member of the team, yeah?"

The other three agreed, cheerfully, the young Calliope even clapping her hands together in excitement.

"We got a sweet office upstairs all set up and everything!" Gamzee said enthusiastically, "You got a desk and a phone and a computer—"

"I’m a receptionist slash book keeper, aren’t I?" Karkat asked, flatly.

Gamzee pursed his lips together before smiling, somewhat awkwardly. “Yeah!”

Well that wasn’t what he studied so long for but… it was a job, and how hard would it be to answer a phone and take orders down? Couldn’t be that hard. And a job meant money and money meant continued living without the threat of having to move back to live with his father since, while he loved his father with all his heart, he was insanely over bearing and controlling. Not something that Karkat wanted, or needed, in his life right now. If ever. He sighed, dramatically. “All right, fine…”

Mister Egbert looked a little concerned but only for a moment. So his boss had hired somebody without even telling him what they were doing? Well, honestly, he shouldn’t be that surprised considering how his boss was. This seemed like his nature all the way down to his colourful feet.

"Sweet!" Gamzee grinned, moving over the counter again despite Calliope having swung open a little door to allow passing, and Karkat followed going by that way more so than leaping over the counter like a crazed gazelle. He glanced over his shoulder back at the trio who were already heading back to their prearranged places since there were already new customers arriving and what do you know, a few of them were police just like Gamzee had said. And he most certainly did not linger back a moment, watching the female cop as she was talking with her partner excitedly (for a cop) as she was helping herself to some of the recently made donuts.

He tore his eyes away, and vanished up the stairs and followed Gamzee up the narrow stair case. The place reeked of baked goods, sugar, and sweetness but it was even worse a floor above. All the smells went right up, so the office area smelled as bad (good?) as the store itself. Karkat stopped in the door way and stared at the right mess of the place; there were boxes everywhere, tax receipts spilling over, ledgers opened and left to fester, and a fish bowl by the window which had a lazy white beta slowly swimming around. Seemed this also doubled as a break room since in the corner was two couches right next to one another, a table in front of them, and to the left was a small kitchen area.

Gamzee was in the kitchen area right now, making some coffee and tea. Karkat was a strict coffee man, while Gamzee only drank tea of every taste and flavour. He didn’t need to ask if Karkat wanted milk and sugar; he knew the answer already was a hearty no. “So what do you think, brother?” Gamzee asked, smiling brightly at Karkat.

"I think it’s an accident waiting to happen." Karkat said flatly as he walked to the office desk Gamzee had obviously just put together recently. From Ikea, probably, judging by the look of it. "I got a big job ahead of me working out all this shit." he tested the chair, the wheels worked at least, and had proper back support.

"You got no idea how mother fucking grateful I am, Karkat," Gamzee gushed as he approached the other holding the mugs. "I knew you’d be the one to help me out, I just can’t thank you enough you’re the best friend I ever done made during all these crazy ass years of mine,"

"Don’t get overly emotional please. I’m not going to start off my first day on this new shitty job by having you bawl and smear your snot all over me." Karkat snapped, reaching for his mug of rich, black coffee. He blew on the rising steam, before breathing deeply. The rich scent of the aroma was absolutely amazing, nobody made a coffee like Gamzee, much like how nobody made cakes like him. He was just gifted with the ability to bake absolutely wonderful creations, which is probably what prompted him to make this bakery in the first place. "So I’m just gonna sit up here and try to work out this mess and answer the phone and take booking orders, yeah?" he asked.

Gamzee nodded enthusiastically, still looking like he was on the verge of tears. The business meant a lot to him, this much was obvious. It was his pride and joy, the thing he loved, the thing he poured so much time into. Karkat would much prefer that the tall man spent his time obsessing over a business more than falling into a dangerous drug habit again. He managed to avoid looking at Gamzee’s arms where, if you looked closely enough, you would see old scars from old, dark times.

That was probably why Gamzee now spent a good amount of money (which he dared to spare from his business) on getting tattoos that would smother his arms in decorations. He took another sip of his coffee. “This is gonna be a long first day.”

And then the phone rang. It would be the first of many on his first day.


	3. Handsome Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a week since Karkat tackled the job of keeping Gamzee’s business from sinking due to poor book keeping, and it’s about time he learns about just what brings Gamzee out of the back part of the store three times a day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Illustration by the talented [Mabs](http://porthmeor.tumblr.com/post/96572310051/commission-for-thesassylorax-of-her-excellent) on tumblr!

So working for Gamzee turned out to be not a horrible mistake. At least, so far. Karkat found himself gradually getting used to the rich, invading scents of baking since it followed him all around the small office / break / kitchen area above the bakery. He did get to have as much good coffee as he wanted, and the number of baked goods that weren’t ‘up to standards’ were always brought upstairs. Karkat feared he may triple in weight if he wasn’t too careful, and he’d spent enough of his childhood being the fat red haired kid down the street to want to go back down that ugly, crack filled road.

The books were still in a pretty shit condition, though. Gamzee seemed incapable of balancing a check book to save his life, and there were obvious wrong-doings going on with the numbers. But after organizing what he had on hand, re-doing the books, and putting shit in order the way they had to be from the start things were already picking up. After all, the orders for catering jobs they got were actually filled properly, and arriving on time.

He found himself craving a bagel, one morning, and Karkat made his way downstairs hoping to find one that had been separated from the rest of the herd. Karkat stepped out from behind the counter, around Calliope who was just cleaning up the counter. She ignored him for the most part, but then made a small gasping noise.

"What is it?" Karkat asked; maybe she’d seen a spider or something equally repulsive like a republican.

"It’s almost ten thirty!" Calliope explained, moving her rag against the counter, ensuring it got super clean for when the next customer came through.

She was literally dangling a fishing hook right in front of him. Something happened at ten thirty. What happened at ten thirty? She obviously wanted him to ask, he could see it in her green eyes. She wanted him to ask so badly she could practically taste his curiosity. He sighed, deeply, and tilted his head to the side. “Okay I’ll bite. What happens at ten thirty?”

"He shows up." Calliope smiled knowingly.

"Oh dang," Jane’s voice cropped up through the serving window. "She’s right it’s almost time!"

"Wait, who is he?" Karkat got to the point, "Does the Messiah walk through your store? Or some kind of ghostly apparition you guys haven’t told me about? Is this pie hole dive haunted by dead clowns?"

"No no no," Jane said, "Just lurk around and watch. You’ll see! Tee hee!" she giggled playfully, ducking out of sight to get back to work.

Well now he really was curious. Curse these women and their whispered secrets and private knowledge. If he could see Mr Egbert he would have shot him a curious look, asking without words what the Hell was going on but he was out of sight. So he was left to wonder what they were talking about but, instead of vanishing back upstairs to the safety of his office space, he found himself a bagel and moved to sit at one of the few tables which had been set up indoors since today it was raining outside.

The clock ticked to ten thirty, and Karkat began to wonder if the girls were making shit up but suddenly the door leading to the baking area of the bakery was pushed open and Gamzee came hurrying out. He was carrying some freshly baked mini pies to put on display; now, this was a job Gamzee did throughout the day but Karkat hadn’t seen him looking so eager to do it before. He looked down right giddy as he moved to where the pies had to be placed, using his tongs to put them into position.

Not a few minutes later a customer walked into the bakery. Karkat had never seen him before, then again he had never been down in the store around this time before now. The man had an umbrella which he was closing now, shaking it outside so not to dribble water on the floor. He had brown hair in (of all styles available) a mo-hawk that looked so thick a comb may well snap in half if it attempted to be pushed through it, and the hair matched his eyes which were so dark they almost seemed black. He had skin which reminded Karkat of caramel, but he certainly didn’t have the body to match the sticky treat since he was tall and had the kind of body build you saw on people who spent majority of their time at the beach in nothing more than a piece of dental floss as swim wear.

He was slightly damp in appearance, obviously the rain had gotten to him moments before he’d put his umbrella up. He had a light blue shirt on which, of all things, had the Captain America shield right smack bang in the middle of his chest. He wore a black vest over that, and normal blue jeans. The biggest atrocity however was that he was wearing socks with sandals. Karkat didn’t know what to look at first so he looked at Gamzee instead, and his eyes widened when he saw just how his friend was acting.

Gamzee looked like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Thanks Giving and his Birthday had all come at once. His smile was unmatched by any one else. The world could have ended, this second, and Gamzee would have died smiling.

"Oh, it’s really coming down out there!" Calliope smiled brightly, making small conversation like she did with all the customers.

"It really is," the customer chuckled, voice not nearly as deep as Karkat would have thought. "Cats and dogs out there!" he walked over to the freshly set out trays and grabbed a tong, smiling at Gamzee as he passed him, seemingly oblivious to the kind of expression that Gamzee was wearing entirely. "Ah, it looks as though my luck regarding arriving at the correct time when you’re setting out the new things!" he beamed, glancing back at Gamzee.

"Haaaa," Gamzee wheezed slightly, shrugging a fraction as he placed more small pies down in their allotted places. "Maybe you were just born lucky?" he asked.

Karkat could not believe what he was witnessing. Gamzee Makara, the boy who hadn’t shown interest in anybody at any point in his long, miserably trip filled life, was attempting to flirt. He really was; he could see it in his eyes and the way his voice twinged. The attempt was all but pathetic, and he had to wonder just how long he’d been doing this. Since the store opened? Since this… buff nerd started coming in? He looked to Calliope who was watching the awkward exchange with rapt attention, smiling mostly to herself, but then happened to spot Karkat watching her and her smile increased and nodded her head towards the two in a ‘Do you see that isn’t it adorable?’ kind of way.

He only shrugged in response.

Karkat felt himself, for better lack of the word, a romance and love expert. Ever since he was a little boy he had been smitten, if not bitten, by the love bug. While other little boys had spent their play time climbing trees, playing army, and messing around in filthy mud and small creeks looking for frogs the young Karkat Vantas had been reading romance novels, and watching romantic comedies. He couldn’t rightly explain his draw to them, even if their plot lines were cheesy at best and eventually became fairly predictable in plot twists and turns, there was a deep rooted joy that Karkat felt when he watched these scenarios play out which paled in comparison to everything else in his life.

Some may guess it was because Karkat’s own mother was a romance novelist, but her stories were the sordid, hormone fueled, button popping, chest heaving kind of books that a young Karkat would never have been privy to. Even now, a full grown adult, he avoided his mothers literature. It just felt really uncomfortable, picking up the small novels and reading perverse romance written by your own mother.

He feared some of the interaction was influenced by his own father, or past lovers of his mother. The very idea had him shudder to the core. So no, you could hardly say he loved romance because of his mother’s influence since he hadn’t even known about her novels until he was well beyond mild interest in romance. And he seriously doubted genetics had a hand in it.

But watching what seemed like a badly written romance play out in front of him had him grimace, and the bagel he’d been enjoying suddenly tasted really, really bad. Gamzee’s posture was all wrong, he hadn’t fixed his hair at all (the hair net was lop sided), he hadn’t even tucked his shirt in as well. His tone was all wrong, there was absolutely no confidence there and Karkat knew his friend was capable of great amounts of confidence yet here he was acting like a wallflower. And the guy, whoever he was and whatever his name was, was painfully oblivious since obviously Gamzee’s flirting technique was so horrible it was painful to witness.

"Usual hot chocolate?" Calliope asked happily as the man approached the counter after grabbing a few pies. Either he was buying for more people who couldn’t make it, or he was a greedy pig who ate all of that himself. If so, how did he burn all that out of his system? Busy training regime, probably.

Karkat continued his spy mission, sitting there, using his ability to blend into the background and go unnoticed by absolutely everyone. It wasn’t that hard to do, especially when his best friends attention was pinned entirely on this individual who was now checking some messages on his phone; again oblivious to Gamzee who was watching him in a ‘I’m not really watching you but I am’ kind of way. Soon, he was set with his box of assorted treats and hot chocolate. He thanked Calliope, headed out the door, and opened up his umbrella before stepping back out into the rain and was gone.

"Wow." Karkat said, bluntly, and suddenly which resulted in Gamzee almost dropping his entire tray.

"Karkat!" Gamzee all but squeaked. "Brother uh, I didn’t see you all there-"

"Yeah I know you were to busy undressing that customer with your fucking eyes." the red head spat as he stood up, wiping his fingers with his napkin.

"What." his friend blurted, "I. What? Hah, HAH! Honk, what, no way." Gamzee was obviously flustered, waving his hand as he turned away, beginning to retreat back to the baking area. "Y’all crazy."

"I am not crazy and don’t you walk away from me Gamzee Makara," Karkat followed him, stopping just behind the counter as Gamzee dipped in behind the swinging doors leading to the baking room. "What is this, are you into him?" he asked, pushing one of the swinging double doors open to peer at Gamzee who was now at a sink, washing his tongs.

"Karkat you’re crazy, spending too much time in that tiny room," Gamzee said, eyes focused on his hands as they washed the tongs again and again and again. Far more time than necessary.

"It’s YOUR office!" Karkat pointed out. He did, however, force himself to not sound so much of an asshole since this was obviously kind of a touchy subject for Gamzee. Taking a step back he took a deep, calming sigh. "…Gamzee. You never told me you were… uh. Hrm. Into guys?"

"Does it matter?" Gamzee replied quietly.

"…uh well…" the red head started, but finished, frowning. "No. I guess not?"

Gamzee sighed a little, and turned his head to look at his friend. His expression wasn’t one of embarrassment, or even fear. He looked tired, the kind of tired Karkat hadn’t seen on his face for years. “I ain't had much time in my life to be thinkin' bout bodies and boys and girls before I figured my shit out bro. All I know is he’s… damn.” he sighed, the tired expression melting into a dreamy one, eyes half lidded and everything. If this were a cartoon, pink and red animated hearts would probably come popping out and float around him while birds sung merrily in the background. “He’s so mother fucking nice to talk to, got the sweetest voice in the whole mother fucking world.” Gamzee even went so far to sigh, shutting his eyes as his hand reached to pull the plug out of the sink. “He comes here three times a day and every time I make my little self be out there in front to be all up and ready to talk to him.”

"So what’s his name?" Karkat asked, deciding to not touch on the subject of sexuality labels since when did they matter to him? Gamzee could like girls, he could like boys, he could like any and everything in between, it wouldn’t alter who he was in Karkat’s eyes. "Do you know that much?"

"Um. No."

"What? You have a loyal customer you don’t know the name of?" Karkat asked, flabbergasted by Gamzee’s stupidity.

"He uses cash!" Gamzee shot back, "I can’t really all out and ask a brother for a name!"

Karkat groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, fine. Look, we’ll continue this later. I’m pretty sure we both got important shit we should be doing instead of talking about your love life. Or lack of one. Plus, something tells me this isn’t the place to discuss it.” he subtly turned his head, looking to Mr Egbert and Jane who were working away despite their boss and the receptionist/accountant/book keeper having a tiff right in front of them.

"Oh it’s no big thing," Mr. Egbert said as he worked at some fancy icing on an ordered birthday cake. "Honestly, boys."

Ironic that he called his boss ‘boy’ but since Gamzee said nothing about it, it must be all right. Karkat huffed a breath, “Nice as that is I still gotta be at that desk if the phone rings. See you guys.” he said, lifting his hand and paused to look at Gamzee. “Seriously. We?” he pointed to Gamzee, then himself, and back again. “Gonna talk later. This shit’s serious.”

"Yes Karkat." Gamzee sighed, looking like a child who had been apprehended by its parent.

Honestly that’s how his and Karkat’s relationship had almost always been like. Despite being the same age, born five months apart, grew up going to the same school and everything, it had always felt like Karkat was looking after Gamzee even if the guy was older than his red haired friend. He was the one to call Gamzee to see where he was, kept his brain focused on their school work, and even now he wanted to have some deep serious talk about his man-crush as if he were some kind of understanding mother arch-type.

Gamzee had to honestly wonder what his life would have been like without Karkat Vantas.

Probably a very dark, angry, lonely one.


	4. Saving Fish and Almost Fisticuffs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat talks Gamzee through the very important job of ensuring his poor pet fish doesn’t end up floating belly up due to ineffective bowls and management. But suddenly drama happens within the store regarding three assholes, and Gamzee’s position being changed.

The Miracle Pie Houses opening hours were from 6 AM, until 9:30 PM Monday through Thursday. On Friday they were open till 11:00 PM, and Saturdays until midnight. You'd be surprised how many people would come in craving a doughnut after a good drink on the weekend, after all. Naturally Gamzee didn't have Calliope man the cashier all these times; she herself didn't start until 8:00 AM most days, and stopped around 4:00 PM.

When she wasn't there, a handy dandy ringing bell was left on the counter and whoever heard it would go play cashier, and drink maker. Many times Gamzee was the one who dropped what he was making to head out and handle some money, and a smile or three. Over all, they were pretty popular, even if their catering orders had been royally messed up by Gamzee's stupidity and ability to zone out at the drop of a hat.

So it was obvious they had a good, strong name with the local businesses. A lot of their customers were office workers, and a lot of their catering were for office meetings and parties which Karkat, a new role to undertake it seemed, had to deliver to. All were within walking distance, thankfully.

"All right so you got customers. Loyal ones, right?" Karkat asked, having hung back later than his usual time of leaving at 5:00 PM.

"Sure do, mother fucker." Gamzee smiled, cleaning the coffee machine diligently.

"And you got no idea as to the names of them. That one guy in particular." he continued, watching as Gamzee's face heated up immediately at the mere mention of him. His friend shrugged, awkwardly, but then pretended like he hadn't heard and was so focused on the job he didn't listen. "Well what if you made loyalty cards?" Karkat asked.

"Uh?" was Gamzee's eloquent response.

"It's when a business gets a card right, like this one." he fumbled for his wallet and pulled out a sandwich bar's card. "See, this side got the company name and logo 'n shit," he gestured to it, "But here." Karkat turned it over, revealing ten spaces set up for colorful stamps to be stamped. "When I buy ten sandwiches from these guys, I get my next sandwich free no matter what gets put on it. And, I registered with them so they got my name and e-mail. When my birthday comes 'round, I get a desert and a drink for free. This is the shit I'm talking about. You guys make cakes, Gamzee." he put the card away, shoving his wallet back into his pocket. "You could do like, a free coffee and cake every ten purchases. And on birthdays, holy shit. Small pies, maybe? It shows you care 'bout your customers, and everyone loves cakes and pies so who wouldn't want one on their birthday?"

And on top of that Gamzee would learn the name of his mystery crush, _if_ he signed up that is.

Gamzee had been listening, really listening now. He tilted his head slightly to the side, nodding his head in a hopeful, enthusiastic way. Until he frowned a little, before tapping a finger against his lip in thought. "So they get their stamp on, and get a free drink 'n cake at ten?" he asked.

"Very eloquently put. Yes, Gamzee." Karkat nodded. "Then you can maybe find out the name of this guy you so obviously like."

"...is it really that obvious?" Gamzee asked, weakly, shoulders lowering.

"You are painfully obvious." the other answered, folding his arms across his chest and leaned on the wall. "Like a cat in heat. At least you weren't rubbing up against him. Even that may be beneath you."

"Not if you get a few drinks in me and let me get crazy." he grinned toothily, and waggled his brows at Karkat.

"Ugh. Focus, Gamzee." Karkat pushed off the wall, approaching his friend to stand besides him. "...if you really do like this guy, you gotta relax more 'round him. You look like a store front dummy in front of him, all fake as shit. That isn't you, Gamzee." he, slowly, reached up and placed his hand on the others shoulder. "This guy's really gotten to you to the point that you drop all who you are and freeze up. That's not good."

"Like I don't know this." Gamzee frowned, his mirthful joking having melted quicker than a snowflake in summer. "I know I'm not acting straight, that I'm so easy going in any other situation! It's frustrating, it's so mother fucking annoying!" he slammed his hand down against the counter, punching the dough that had been set up before him. At least he took his frustrations out on the right things, and instead of picking up old, nasty habits.

Karkat sighed. "I don't wanna tell you the usual junk people tell folks at times like these. So I'm not. Instead, we're gonna push this aside and work on something that really matters right now."

"Your love life?" Gamzee asked hopefully.

"WHAT." Karkat flustered all but immediately, his pale complexion turning a bright crimson at the mere mention of his so called love life.

"Yeah man, we ain't ever hearing about what's going on with you."

"That's because there's nothing to report on TOP of that it's none of your business!" he didn't know where to look right now, not at Gamzee that's for sure, so he glared at the floor as if it had just insulted his fashion sense.

"Aw I didn't mean to upset you Karkat," Gamzee cooed as he abandoned his work to approach the other, going so far to slowly wrap his arms around his friends shoulders and pull him in close in a genuine hug. "you know I'd be mother fucking lost without you."

"Yeah. You'd be dead without me." Karkat grumbled before realizing he might have gone a little too far with that hiss, before reaching up to gently push Gamzee away. "Any way there really is something we gotta tackle."

"What's that?"

"Your fish."

"Goat?"

"What."

"Goat!" the tall man grinned, "That's his name!"

"...you named... a fish. Goat."

He got an enthusiastic nod from Gamzee as his only answer. Honestly, Karkat knew that he would never truly be able to understand his friend. It was like trying to unwrap a mystery coiled around an enigma that was lost down behind the back of the couch after a wild Friday night. "Regardless of his name," Karkat pushed past the strong idea to ask why a fish was named after a farm animal, "his living conditions are shit. I've watched him suffer for long enough and surprise, genius! A fish like him belongs in a proper tank and not a bowl."

"Whoa, really?" Gamzee asked, eyes widening slightly.

"Yes really. Did you fail to notice when I returned from lunch the other day I had a bag full of shit from the pet store down the street?" Karkat asked.

"I was kinda busy baking to notice-"

"Well regardless I went and paid out of my own pocket for your stupid fish so we're going to spend time, now, in setting it up so we don't walk into work one day to find that fish floating dead in his water." Karkat continued, ignoring Gamzee's liable explanation as to why he hadn't seen him return with not only a new glass tank for the fish but filter, and other assorted things a little fish like 'Goat' would appreciate. "Unless you want your stupid fish dying on you?"

"No!" Gamzee gasped, pressing his hands to his face in genuine distress. "I don't want Goat dying! Not Goat!!"

"Well then," Karkat said as he grabbed Gamzee by the shirt collar and pulled, causing his friend to almost trip over his own big ass feet to follow him out of the room. "We're going upstairs and setting up this proper aquarium for that poor fish before he croaks and ends up with a burial at sea aka the staff toilet."

And so began the task of arranging a proper aquarium for the poor droopy fish named Goat. Karkat had really gone to town when going to the pet store that lunch time, since he had bought a 1 gallon tank, a filter with an adjustable flow, a heater with a thermometer, and a shit load of marbles since he knew Gamzee so well that he'd prefer colorful marbles at the bottom of the aquarium than sand, or gravel. He'd even gotten some decorations, smooth of course, including a two differently shaped caves for Goat to swim through.

"Whoa brother you went and spent a fortune!" Gamzee gaped as he looked over the goods, picking up the marble bag and gave it a jiggle.

"Yeah well the store clerk was really helpful." Karkat muttered as he thought back to the girl with the long black hair, big round glasses, and that ridiculous gap in her top row teeth which he kept glancing at throughout their conversation. Her name tag had read 'Jade' but he hadn't used her name once since that was creepy, you only use a persons name once you know them.

She had been very enthusiastic, showing him everything he needed to get, and even wrote down everything that he'd have to do on a piece of paper which had been decorated by printed octopus-things. Karkat was sure they were from some kid show, but he couldn't remember the name.

"Betta are very intelligent and curious fish!" she had explained as she had been writing down furiously, "So don't tuck the tank in a corner where it won't get much attention but you HAVE to keep it out of direct sunlight!"

"Okay so she said first things to go in are the marbles and the decorations," Karkat said before wincing since Gamzee had all but dumped the marbles into the tank making the kind of noise that sounded like a thousand skeletons jumping around at once. Then went in the caves, and the small smooth diver who Karkat had bought as an extra bonus. He would stand in the corner.

Karkat set about installing the heater and filter, following the instructions that Gamzee held up to him. He would have asked him to read them but the last time he let Gamzee read instructions to him he had failed miserably as had the science project they had been working on at the moment.

"Okay, test time." Karkat turned them both on, and Gamzee drew in close to watch as they both purred to life. They set the current to a nice smooth setting, and then the heater until the water was a comfortable 75 degrees F for Goat.

"Now," Jade had instructed, "You have to fill the tank with water treated with a water conditioner! The water has to be fresh and clean."

Seeing how he had bought all this the day before, Karkat had set the water to be conditioned (thus cleaned) over night. It was ready to be added to the new tank, which was done, before Karkat fetched a little plastic baggie from the kitchen section of the floor. "Perfect time to get Goat out of that awful water you got him in and ease him into this water."

"We don't pour him on in?" Gamzee asked as he lowered his head to peer at Goat, who still lazily drifted along the bottom of his round bowl.

"No man! The change in temperature could kill him dead from shock! See we get him into the bag, tie off the bag, and set it in the new tank for fifteen minutes. The water inside with him adjusts slowly, and then when you open it he can be let out into his new tank without wigging out. Unless you WANT to have put all this effort into this new tank only to kill your stupid fish at the last second and have a burial at sea and by sea I mean your shitty toilet, we are going to wait. Got it?"

"Ohhh...."

When Karkat made his way into the office the next morning, he was pleasantly surprised to find that Goat was looking a lot more lively than normal. He was swimming around his little caves, swishing his tail full of energy, and fanning his fins. At least somebody felt perky and awake this early in the morning. He made a mental note to take a photo with his phone and take it to the girl at the pet store, since she had been super interested in knowing how the fish got along after the change to a new tank.

He was just just turning the kettle on to boil his water for his own personal cup of coffee, even if Callie made the best coffee downstairs he didn't want to bother her during the morning rush, when he heard shouting. It was loud, and coming from downstairs. He moved to the stairs, gently grabbing the railing as he stood up there, still not entirely sure if it was downstairs or outside.

**_"GET THE FUCK OUT!!"_ **

No, no, that was most definitely Gamzee's voice and he sounded mad. Insanely mad, the kind of mad that only erupted once every couple of years like an angry volcano slowly simmering and keeping its white hot rage contained long enough until something triggered its eruption. Karkat raced down the stairs and entered the store in time to see Mr. Egbert leading Callie, who looked red faced (was she crying it was hard to tell), as Jane pushed past them to join Gamzee who had either lifted the hinged part of the counter to get over it or had literally leaped over it.

There were three guys in the store, dressed in the kind of clothes that reminded me of why high school sucked so hard. The backwards hat, the baggy clothing, the fact they were white guys pretending to be something they weren't. They were snorting with laughter, Gamzee now in front of them, eyes angrily narrowed as he waved his tattooed arms in front of him as if he was trying to shoo them as if they were easily frightened goats.

"You get the FUCK out of my store before I rip your fuckin' throat out!"

"What the Hell--" Karkat started as Jane rushed past him, lifting the hinged counter to move to Gamzee, grabbing at his arm to pull him back.

"You should leave. Now, before we call the police!" Jane warned angrily.

"Ohh careful boys, or he'll fetch his black bitch on us!" gasped one of the boys sarcastically, "Then we'll really be in some trouble!"

"Excuse me-" Jane started only for Karkat to suddenly push in front of the two, his sudden appearance causing the group to take a step back in surprise.

"I don't know what the Hell this is all about but you three get out of this establishment now you've had I don't know how many warnings but this one is your last one before we get physical with you." Karkat snarled as angrily and as confidently as he could, even if the three young men were each taller than him. It was all about confidence more so than how tall you were.

"I've already called the police." Mr. Egbert's voice called from the back.

This must not have mattered much to the trio. Karkat still didn't know what they'd done, had they said something about Calliope? Had they broken something he hadn't noticed yet? Shit, why did he have to be squirreled away upstairs like Rapunzel instead of down here where action happened? He didn't know, since just as one of the snarky little men began to walk closer to spout some kind of stupidity the door swung open and the two police he'd seen at the store on his first day came bursting in.

Holy shit had they worn roller skates the whole way over?

"Hands up, hands up!" shouted the sole man of the trio, his Asian-like features making him look almost that little bit more professional than most police looked when barging into a bake house with his shorter, female, partner.

"We got reports of harassment and damage to property! You three, freeze!" the female police officer shouted with a strong confidence that felt like a sucker punch to to the stomach.

Of all the things to happen in their store, harassment of this level was not something Karkat would ever expect. In the end the three young men were detained, Calliope questioned over what they'd spoken to her, and the security tape from the friendly blinking camera (named Orwell by Gamzee) which watched everyone from the corner of the bakery was taken away. From what he could gather, they had made abusive comments over Calliope's general appearance, here lack of visible facial hair, her skinny body and youth. To think there were assholes out there who'd make fun of a recovering cancer patient had Karkat choking on his bile.

They had knocked back the drinks they'd ordered, making a mess, as well as knocking over a stand which had held chocolate lollipops that Jane had spent all day making. Sure the stand could be put back together but it still counted as property damage and as far as Karkat could see the three shits deserved every piece of broken laws thrown in their face.

Naturally the store had to put up a 'Be Back in Half an Hour' sign (quickly scribbled by Jane and taped to the front door) as they worked at cleaning up the store front where all the coffee and hot chocolate had made a mess, and the shattered pops. Mr. Egbert kept working up the back, pies still had to be made for a big job the next morning after all. Jane got out the old favorite mop which looked like it was being held together by dreams, wishes, and purple tape while Karkat tried his best not to listen in on Gamzee talking to Calliope upstairs as he manned the phone.

He watched as she made her way down the stairs, unaware of a car already awaiting outside to take her home.

"Mother fuckin' assholes, that's what." Gamzee said, abruptly, as he dropped some food for Goat into his freshly spruced up tank. "Comin' in here drunk from last night talkin' to Calli like that who the fuck do they think they are..."

"Is that what that all was?" Karkat asked, looking up from his desk to Gamzee who, not, was looking out the window at the street below.

"Snatched her head scarf right off her fuckin' head." he frowned, "And she's been working so hard at gettin' back on her feet too. Y'know how I met her?" he asked, suddenly, looking to Karkat.

"Uh. No you didn't really tell me your life story."

Gamzee laughed weakly, shaking his head. "Well it wasn't too long after that night, man. I was all up in the hospital, recovering and doing my thing wanderin' round those awful halls." he pushed a hand through his hair, putting the lid on Goat's tank back into place, leaving the fish to feed. He returned to Karkat's desk, looking over the books of paperwork that took up most of the room. "And there she was, small lil' thing sitting in the garden all by herself wired up to some awful machine. I got my sit on and talked to her and that was it."

"Oh..." Karkat mumbled. He didn't talk much about his time in the hospital, or his time with the clinic, that took place afterwards. That was, after all, Gamzee's lowest point of his life at least following what had taken place before it. Karkat knew all too well he'd never forget that one night no matter how hard he tried. He still dreamed of blood freely flowing from his car when he would open the door. "So what you just. Offered her a job?"

"More or less man!" Gamzee grinned, "She was needin' something and by the time I was all up and discharged from hospital she 'n me we were buddies. So I kept in touch and when I opened this place I gave her the ole' buzz buzz and sure enough she was in remission and needed work. Was a miracle, the doctors said. So what better place for her to work than the mother fuckin' Miracle Pie House?"

"You're a work of art, Gamzee. You should be fucking framed in a art gallery somewhere."

"Oh yeah," he asked as he pulled out his handy hair net and pulled it back onto his head. "And what would I be called?"

"Epitome of Clownish Fool Hearty Adoration and Stupidity."

"Fuck, I love it." Gamzee gave Karkat the whole wink and two shot guns with his hands. "Either way man, Calliope won't be back for a few days. Insisted she take the time, bein' harassed by assholes would take the best out of the toughest mother fucker and while she is tough, she ain't that tough. So guess who's gonna be manning the counter?"

"Jane?" Karkat asked, blandly.

"Nah man. Yours truly." Gamzee adjusted his shirt collar.

"Think the populace will be okay with being served by a tattooed guy with purple hair?"

"Well they'll have to mother fuckin' face reality some day or another."

"And this means you'll get to talk to Mr. Hunky Dorky any time he comes in the store."

"Holy shit look at the time I better get down there and help Janey out see you later Karkat!!" and with that Gamzee absconded from the conversation and went tripping down the stairs like the bumbling idiot he was.

Karkat, alone again, sighed and shook his head before peering across the way to Goat who, apparently, was staring at him intently. "...congratulations, your owner is a loony. But I guess you already knew that."

Goat's answer was to release a few bubbles, some of which Karkat wasn't sure which end from him that it originated from. Like owner, like pet, it seems.


	5. The Minotaur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gamzee gets himself over the first hurdle of getting the guy, aka getting to know his name. Then we follow said guy, Tavros, back to his place of employment and meet his co-workers!

”You’re vain as Hell.”

"Shooosh."

"No seriously I’ve never even seen a woman spend so long touching up her make up."

"Shoooooooosh."

Karkat, arms folded, was leaning on the door frame of the bathroom above the Miracle Pie House store front. It was small and cramped with room enough for a toilet, the basin and sink, cupboards, and a double glassed cupboard hanging above the sink. He saw Gamzee dipping into the room, without shutting the door, on more than one occasion but it wasn’t like he was using the facilities or anything, heavens no.

At least Gamzee had the decency to do that much when he had to to take a shit. But no, he dipped in here to touch up his fucking make up. Foundation. Concealer. Powder. Blush. Even some mild eye liner and lipstick though it was the clear stuff. He even plucked his eyebrows, something Karkat had only walked in on a few days back.  
"I repeat, you’re fucking vain."

"No I ain’t," Gamzee said as he moved some of his purple colored fringe, tilting his head faintly to observe his work. "Ain’t nothing bad with a man who wants to look his best now is there?"

"Well, no." Karkat frowned.

"I hate how everyone figures make up be only for girls. I was hella jealous of my sisters." he zipped open his make up bag, and began moving his things back into it before zipping it back up.

"…has this got to do with your sexuality or something?" asked Karkat, carefully. He didn’t want to be out right rude to his friend in regards to this, after all. Gender, sexuality, identity, those were hot buttons for everyone now a days.

"Nah bro," Gamzee shook his head, hardly insulted or upset. "I just wanna look god damn gorgeous."

Karkat could guess why. Gamzee was running the register and coffee machines for a few days while Calliope took her time off. Now it was Monday, and that meant Mr Tall Dark and Geeky would be coming in and Gamzee would be there to serve him. But he wouldn’t say that, no good in embarrassing Gamzee now even if it was mildly amusing.  
So there Gamzee worked through the morning rush, making coffee, hot chocolates (with marshmallows of course), teas, and of course as well as ringing up the prices of the small pies and pastries and cakes people bought from the original set up. It was refreshing, yes, to actually not be stuck wearing his oh so favorite hair net while baking.

Sure some of the older customers eyed Gamzee’s wildly colored hair, and the tattoos that adorned his arms but that was expected. On his left arm was a Capricorn, the half goat half fish creature that happened to be Gamzee’s star sign (in his youth he’d been all but obsessed with zodiacs and fortune telling), and on his right arm was a collection of stars and star dust that ran from his shoulder blade all the way down to the middle of his forearm. Few people knew the stars had been arranged in such a way to hide old needle marks on his arm, but then again Gamzee didn’t give many the opportunity to get so close to see those holes hidden among the black dots and stars.

"You have a great day now!" he called out to a lovely old couple who he’d just served, waving them out, and he froze momentarily with his arm still raised in the air since the door had been pushed open all but immediately afterwards.

It was him.

Gamzee lowered his arm a bit, turning it into a hopefully casual wave in greeting to the familiar stranger whose shirt today had shirt that, again looked like it may well be one size too small for him but it wasn’t like Gamzee would complain. Today the shirt was.. was that a Pokemon? One Gamzee couldn’t name.

"Well hey, welcome on in." Gamzee smiled.

"Oh, hello!" smiled the other, "I don’t normally see you behind the counter, at least in this sort of way."

Gamzee smiled as casually as he could, moving to pick up a cloth and gave the counter a small wipe since he’d realized there was a coffee ring left there from the previous sale. “What, a man can’t be up and at the counter of his own establishment?”

"Hah, that is true." he grinned, as he pulled out a small list. So the order was different today? "Uhh… I’m going to be needing three coffees, one with skim, one full, other without…"

Nodding, Gamzee moved to start up the machine. “Right got ya…”

"And I’ll go grab the rest yeah?"

"Don’t have to ask permission none."

Smiling, the familiar nameless man moved to the tongs and platter, going through the offered selections to pick up what he wanted while Gamzee worked at the drinks diligently. Yes he was very interested in the man as he walked through his bakery store front, wanting to watch him as he moved around, picking up the treats he wanted but he had to focus at doing a good job.

"Oh I ah, wanted to mention something. Starting next week we’re all up and starting a customer rewards program!" Gamzee spoke up.

"Really?" he turned his head a little.

"Hmm! And I was figurin’ something," oh god Gamzee’s mouth was working quicker than his brain or heart could operate, "that since y’all been a real dedicated customer of ours since we opened I may as well give to you these here drinks for free today. I can also make you a make-shift card you can hold onto, as well…?"

The man looked a little surprised, then genuinely touched. “…wow, really? Is uh, is that all right?”

"I’m the boss man," Gamzee snorted, "I can do what I want and like I said… you been coming here since forever. Three free coffees ain’t gonna destroy me." he reached for his notepad, pulling it near him, and drew up a rough ten grid on one side before turning it over to doodle the name of his store on the other side. "So lemme make this at least a little official like… what’s your name?"

He was just now approaching the counter with his cakes and pie slices, more than normal, and set them on the counter. Hearing the question he smiled again, and Gamzee felt a warmth spread up through his chest. “My name? Oh, it’s Tavros. Tavros Nitram.”

And now he knew his name and it was an amazing name. Very carefully he wrote Tavros’ name onto the card, well the make shift card, until he would get him a proper one when the printers got back in touch with them next week. “Okay so I’m gonna write you up as having three on the card already… and there.” he held the card out to Tavros, and smiled as their fingers touched briefly as Tavros took it. “So I’m gonna be charging you for these babies.”

So that’s what happened. Gamzee waved Tavros out of the store, before leaning back against the wall and brought a hand up and pushed it through his purple hair. “Tavros.” he smiled, “His name is Tavros.”

~*~

"Tavros! Finally. You took longer than normal today."

Tavros grinned a little as he made his way down the stairs into The Minotaur, the comic store he’d been working at for four years. It was in the basement beneath a fairly big video game store up above so they had a pretty heavy traffic flow of customers every other day of the week. New shipment came in on Wednesday nights, and were stocked Thursday mornings.

For someone like Tavros, who had grown up on a diet of comic books, Pokemon card and video games, and b grade movies meant a job working at The Minotaur was like a dream come true.

Unlike Equius who was a health nut and had taken on the job a year ago since he’d been incapable of getting a job as a personal trainer. He had claimed he would only stay on until he got the job he wanted, so considering he was still here meant he’d either slowly accepted his place in The Minotaur or was still seeking out a new job. His long bleached blond hair was tied back in a ponytail today, same as normal, and was waiting behind the counter like normal.

"Ah sorry," Tavros smiled as he took out the skim milk coffee and handed it to him. "Time me, do you?" he asked with a grin, "We’re not at the gym, Equius."

"Well no, but this isn’t your break time. After all." Equius replied as he took the lid off of the coffee and stirred at it with his own spoon. "This is skim, isn’t it?"

"Yes. Gamzee made it, today." he explained as he made his way behind the counter, looking around curiously. "Aradia out?"

"She is using the facilities." he answered stiffly, completing his stirring of the coffee before taking a sip. He gave a low, thankful hum. "I will say one thing about the Miracle Pie House, they make excellent coffee."

Tavros snorted. “You should try one of their cakes, one day…”

"Never." Equius snorted, eyes narrowing. "You know I do not eat such sugary saturated fatty things."

It was Tavros’ turn to snort now, giving his head a shake as he set Aradia’s black coffee down before lifting his own coffee out. “One slice of pie wouldn’t kill you, Equius.”  
"No, but if I were to eat a tiny slice of apple pie I would have to walk thirty six minutes, or alternatively jog for ten minutes to burn those calories off. Do you know what I could do in thirty six minutes at the gym, or even ten?" Equius asked, narrowing an eye critically at his work colleague.

"Oh no, not thirty six minutes!" Tavros gasped in a sarcastic tone which he knew he could get away with, "Whatever would you do if you had to waste so much time on something like walking instead of, oh I don’t know, power thrusts. Or squats."

"Precisely."

"Are you boys talking about working out again?"

Hearing her voice, Tavros turned his head and grinned toothily at his other co-worker as she exited the rest room. She had her auburn hair tied into a big plait today, her long hair that much grown out that her plait ended well past her rear and was thick as anything. Seeing her coffee she clapped her hands together, picking up the cup as she reached for the recyclable carry bag the Miracle Pie House set all their take away foods in. “Did they have the apple and rhubarb pies today?” she asked excitedly.

"You are in luck, they did." Tavros grinned, picking up the carry bag and taking out her slice of pie and handed it to her.

"Aradia, please…"

Tavros was already quickly making his way across the room because he already knew what was about to happen.

"If you only took better care of your diet, you could, most likely, loose some weight and you could look far more beautiful…"

"Um. Excuse me," Aradia’s tone shifted from pleasant to deadly in seconds, "but I’ve told you before, Equius, that I don’t appreciate that kind of talk. And another thing—"  
Tavros moved through to the back room, since having passed the stock of the manga he saw a few of one of the more popular titles were lacking their first volumes which he was fully aware of being stocked. Plus, it kept him away from the argument that Aradia was about to slay where it stood and put Equius back in his place.

He meant well, Equius wasn’t cruel or harsh to be an asshole. He just said a lot of stupid things without thinking them through and realizing such ‘compliments’ could and would be taken as insults. Like when he’d been telling Tavros more or less the same thing over a year ago. Tavros had been a bit chubby around the middle, a little bit of flub around his face and Equius had been noticing his shift in physical health and put his foot down.

"I am taking you to my gym." he had said abruptly one day after watching Tavros struggle with carrying two boxes of stock.

"Uh, what?" Tavros asked.

"Your health is deteriorating due to a lifestyle of junk food and no exercise. As your store manager it is my job to ensure you are at your best and you are not being your best."  
And despite how hard Tavros had argued, Equius had all but dragged him to the local gym that Equius had a membership with and after a few sessions there he genuinely did feel some improvement. And with the healthier life style he just felt overall better not only with his physical health but his self esteem as well.

Now he could wear clothes he couldn’t have worn before, he could go jogging for the fun of it more so than chasing a bus he wanted to catch without being breathless after a few steps, and it just felt great.

Having gathered the volumes he needed, Tavros made his way back into the store and slowly peeked his head around the corner of the door to see if the fight was still going. Obviously not, since Aradia was sitting on the counter sipping her coffee and Equius had mysteriously vanished.

He swore one day she may kill him.

"Has he escaped to the clothing area?" Tavros asked with a smile as he replaced the stock.

"Yeah he abandoned ship and ran to the high grounds." Aradia smiled, before sighing exasperatedly. "He never learns, does he?"

"No, no he does not." she laughed as she took a bite of her pie slice.

Tavros took a glance down to the other far side of the basement store where they stocked the clothing which he himself personally bought things from. They had good shirts that fit him nicely, and complimented his somewhat nerdy nature. It also offered Equius a hiding place to busy himself in since customers rarely put shirts back on their correct rack, and when a shirt should happen to slip off a hanger nobody but the employees seemed to care to put them back onto the rack.

That meant there was always something to do in the clothing department, and the best place to flee to when Aradia was mad at you and you had to give her some breathing space.

"So, was that cutie in there today?" Aradia asked, wiping some crumbs from her chin on her striped sleeves.

"Oh uh, Gamzee was running the register today." Tavros answered as he began to work the lid off of his cooled coffee, setting the lid into the bin.

"Oh, so they were!"

At that Tavros could have spilled his coffee all over himself but instead his face decided to darken in shade, and set the coffee down safely onto the counter besides Aradia. “Oh my God.”

"What? He’s damn fine!" Aradia grinned wickedly after tossing her already emptied cup of coffee into the trash. She could drink boiling hot lava and probably survive it, while Tavros could barely handle anything above mild. Let’s just say going out to eat Mexican with her was always terrifying in case their plates for confused which had happened before.

"This isn’t really a conversation I am willing to be having right now…" Tavros mumbled, wondering if Equius would welcome some help over in the clothing department.

"Oh you never want to talk about this sort of thing!" she exasperated with a huff.

"Well maybe you should talk to your girl friends about this sort of thing?" he asked.

"And what makes you think only GIRLS can talk about attractive people with one another?" Aradia asked, eyebrow raising and tone of voice dropping to that warning tone which could cause both Tavros and Equius take a few steps back when they would hear it.

"I didn’t say that you are putting words into my mouth," Tavros struggled with the strong desire to back up in case she made a playful kick at him. "it’s just. I’M not comfortable with talking about this."

Aradia sighed, shaking her head as she hopped down from the counter and tugged at the back of her shirt so it wasn’t riding up any. “You’re not comfortable with a lot of emotional feeling talk, are you?” she asked, sounding slightly irritated but doing her best at not being too harsh. “Shouldn’t let your relationship history keep this strong hold around you, Tav. It’s not healthy.”

"You are preaching to the choir."

She shook her head, reached up and slapped a hand to his shoulder which felt like smacking a hardened slab of beef. Good God, what kind of work outs had Equius had this guy doing this past year? Honestly she forgot he was built under those nerd shirts of his. “Come on, let’s go get a start on the ghost decorations while we got a quiet moment.”

"What?" Tavros squawked, "Aradia it’s the middle of September!"

"Exactly! Spooky season is just around the fucking corner!!" Aradia gushed, and you could all but imagine the stars in her eyes as she spoke, cupping her hands together. "Halloween is only the greatest time of year with all the merchandise and the decorations and the food and the spooky shit and the pumpkin spice in EVERYTHING."

He’d had this conversation before. Every Halloween Aradia would be all but grabbed by the Spooky Spirit of the Season. She lived for the spooky month, her and her love of the macabre and the spooky, reflected in her clothing style choice which was a lot of darker colors only now and then spiced with a bright purple, pink, red, or orange. She knew what she loved and lived it, which was something he always appreciated about her. Even if she got a little out of control this time of year.

Tavros smiled, giving his head a nod. “Ah, all right yeah let’s get a start on those things…”

"Smart boy." Aradia worked an arm around his middle and began to guide him through to the back room, "And while at it we can talk about hot people together."

"Oh God."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [And we have another piece of art to share with you all today!](http://gin-and-djinn.tumblr.com/post/96572310051/commission-for-thesassylorax-of-her-excellent) This time it was done by my highly talented and wonderful friend Mabs!


	6. Gift Hunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Kankri's birthday the next day, Karkat hauls Gamzee out shopping in hopes of finding something either half decent or fully indecent to give his brother. What they do find is far more interesting.

”I dunno man I just think the green here could’ve been a bit more brighter you know?” Gamzee asked as he looked over the small customer loyalty card in his hand.

"Ugh." Karkat growled as he tugged at his hood tighter around his ears. "Can you drop it? We’re not at work. It’s Saturday. Can we have a fucking day when we’re NOT focusing 80% of our time on that place?"

"Hey man I can’t help it… that place be my baby. I wanna suckle it to my nipple of success and feed it—"

"STOP." Karkat pushed his hand up into Gamzee’s face, "Stop that train of thought at your fucked up station you call your brain right now before you say something so irreversible I’ll need therapy to get over it."

Gamzee blinked for a moment before opening his mouth and licked his tongue across Karkat’s palm. This got Karkat shoving Gamzee back, making a loud ‘bluh’ sound, and wiping it against Gamzee’s own jacket. “I forget you got the brain of a ten year old in that head of yours…” he grumbled.

So it was Saturday. After a week of running the cash register Calliope had returned to her duties, and it was finally time for Gamzee to take a day off. Normally that would mean sleeping in till midday, or later, but he had awoken with an odd sense of activity and desire to be somewhere. So naturally first thing he did was call Karkat and ask what he was doing that day, as it turned out Karkat’s older brother Kankri was celebrating his birthday that week.

Which meant searching the stores in town in hopes of finding something to interest the man who could talk any ones ear off.  


So far they’d been in some clothing stores, but Kankri could buy any and all the ties he wanted since he was a copyright lawyer after all. Suits, shoes, socks, handkerchiefs, that sort of thing were out of the question entirely. They’d looked through an electronics store but Karkat knew full too well Kankri had a nose trimmer, eyebrow plucker, and all the up to date technologies that he himself could never afford.

"FUCK. He’s always been hard to shop for. Ever since we were kids. It’s ridiculous." Karkat grumbled, putting his hands into his pockets. "Don’t know why I fucking bother spending my money on him all he does is put his nose up at it."

"Cuz you love him, man. He’s family. Even if you don’t hafta love family it does make things a little better." Gamzee shrugged, coming to a stop by a window stall that was filled with colorful posters for movies, and television shows.

Karkat snorted. He wanted to spout ‘I don’t love him’ but even he knew that was a lie. Much as Kankri got on his nerves he did care about him. When he realized Gamzee still wasn’t walking with him he stopped, and looked over his shoulder. “Gamzee?”

"How bout we scope out this place?" Gamzee asked, pointing towards the escalators which moved downwards into the basement store. "Looks pretty interestin’! They got shirts and movies and junk you don’t find in other stores."

Karkat looked up at the sign. The Minotaur. Comics, Collectibles… he shrugged. “Why the hell not.”

And so they took the escalators, slowly making their way down to the basement. The floor was carpeted blue, and upon entering the underground store they were met by a larger than life statue of an actual Minotaur wearing jeans. He had a necklace of skeletons hanging around his neck which looked like they’d been hung there for the upcoming Halloween celebration month.

Right behind the Minotaur was the clothing and knick knack department, mugs, statues, toys and the like. But moving to the right, through some swinging security gates, you would find your way to the comic section of the store were so many comics of various styles and for different ages were set. Those for adults were in a marked area, and sealed, so no young horny teens could steal a peek at some boobs, or dicks.

Karkat avoided the comics since he knew well enough Kankri had NEVER shown any interest in that sort of thing, and made his way towards the section of clothing, and collectible things. Maybe he could buy him a jokey gift just to surprise him. That’d be something.

Meanwhile Gamzee made a B-line right for the comics. When he’d been in hospital and getting to know Callie, she’d brought him a few of her comics from home since it was something her family brought for her to read when she was hooked up to her machines. He didn’t remember what it was called at all, but he’d remembered enjoying the shit out of it and what better place was there to be to find a comic than a comic store? He looked around excitedly, like a kid in a comic store, really.

And was that music from the Nightmare before Christmas playing on the speakers? It wasn’t even October yet, but it wasn’t like he’d complain. He remembered liking that movie, trippy as it was with that skeleton dude running around as Santa. There were a fair number of people in here, a lot of them were teenagers but there were a fair number of young adults too. There was even and old guy in here, in a section Gamzee couldn’t make the name of.

He was turning around again when he saw the counter of the store. There was a miniature Godzilla sitting on the counter in front of a tin for tips, with a small warning sign to be wary of the Godzilla since he bites non-tippers. There were also game cards for sale there too, behind the glass that made up the counter. Pokemon, Digimon, other ‘mon’ things Gamzee didn’t know about. But it was at that moment one of the workers of the store came out from behind the curtain behind the counter and—oh my god.

Nerdy Mc Hot Pants.

Shit, wait no. Tavros. It was Tavros.

Tavros lifted his head, smiling his usual charming ‘welcome to the store how may I help you’ smile but it faltered all but instantly. Because this was somebody he knew. Somebody he’d been seeing every day for so long and he’d never seen him out of his natural pie circled environment.

"Whoa, hey!" he smiled, resting his hands on the counter.

"Heyyyy…!" Gamzee returned the greeting as casual as he could before moving closer towards the counter, and him.

"I didn’t take you as a comic reader." Tavros grinned. If he was a big fan of something, maybe Tavros liked it too, and they could talk about it? All their conversations normally involved what kind of pies were fresh that day, the flavour of the day, specials, and whether or not he wanted marshmallows in his hot chocolate.

"Well I ain’t really," he admitted, lowering his gaze a little. "Didn’t rightly grow up in a place that smiled at comics and shit buuuuuuut a friend did introduce me to some a few years back and I been hunting for the series. If anythin’ this place all up and reminded me of it."

Tavros perked up at that, at least. “Oh really? Maybe I could help you rekindle and have a reunion of sorts with that comic?” he asked.

"Could you?" Gamzee asked.

"Well I do work here."

"Oh yeah."

"But even if I didn’t, I uh. I think I would help you, any way, Gamzee." Tavros smiled.

Gamzee paused for a moment before sucking on his bottom lip a moment. “Quick question. How d’yall know my name I don’t recollect ever saying it…”

Tavros raised an eyebrow, beautiful thick creature that slept peacefully above his deep brown eyes. “Gamzee.” he reached and pointed to his own chest, where a name tag hung. Gamzee followed his finger, staring at the others chest a moment, then seeing the name tag. Oh, oh yeah. Like him, Gamzee wore a name tag when he worked in his store too.  
"Ooohhhhh…… Right."

Meanwhile across the store, Karkat Vantas was on a mission for his stupid preachy older brother. Gifts had never been his forte, since Kankri was seemingly the hardest person in the world to buy gifts for. Birthdays and Christmas were a nightmare, and he was almost grateful his brother was eternally single so he wouldn’t have to even attempt to buy wedding gifts, or anniversary commemorative things. If Kankri ever married it would be the most finicky person on the planet, to match him perfectly.

He was looking at mugs that were painted blue, with a weird police sign painted on for no god damn reason when he felt somebody’s presence walking up behind him.  
"Do you even understand what this shit is about cuz I—" Karkat turned and looked up, expecting to see Gamzee’s stupid mug standing behind him but instead of the gangly purple haired childhood friend he met a Greek statue brought to life wearing modern day clothes and those indoor-outdoor glasses that changed into sunglasses when exposed to light. His hair was bleached, maybe once upon a time it was black or even brown but now it was just pale in comparison and tied back in a pony tail which ended past his shoulder blades which were large enough to flip a table if they so wanted to.

There was an awkward silence which probably lasted far longer than it should have.

"May I help you?"

Oh thank God it was someone who worked here and not some random creeper who took joy in walking up behind people. Karkat gripped the blue mug in his hand for a moment before putting it back on the shelf. “Ah, I’m just looking for something for my brothers birthday.” he said. Maybe this big walking statue could point out something suitable.

"Oh. Well, then, we have a wide range of products that might make for a suitable gift for your brother. How soon do you need to make a selection by?" Equius asked.

"Tomorrow."

"That is very short notice."

"I’m not that fond of him."

"Ah."

"Well that makes the act of purchasing a gift… interesting." Equius chose his words easily since he too understood the pain of having a brother you weren’t overly fond of. Not that he hated Horuss, no, they just had conflicting views of things which led to some tension when their mother invited them home for a family meal like when they were little. He moved past Karkat, "Does he have an interest in comics, or science fiction?" he asked, looking up at what was on display on the shelf.

"Nope." Karkat shrugged.

"…I see. So, would you presumably be more interested in a joke gift, perhaps?"

"Hrm." he frowned a little in thought.

"Not only that but if it is a considerably small gift, you can purchase a large box, pack it in that and fool him into believing the present is big."

"Holy shit that is devious." Karkat grinned, "Didn’t realize there were sadists working here."

Equius only shrugged his shoulders. It was something Horuss had done to him on occasion, so he had only done he right thing in paying him back for his ‘ingenuous’ way of gifting his twin brother. A gift card to a store he never went to, but knowing Horuss was the type of person who couldn’t turn away a gift begrudgingly gone to said store (Hot Topic) to buy something worth five dollars. That had been hilarious.

So while Gamzee was off doing… whatever it was that a Gamzee does when left to his own devices in a comic book store, Karkat roamed the isles and racks looking for something that would tick Kankri off. He knew better than a gift card, Kankri would toss that out in a second. But an actual gift he would open and have to hold up at his birthday tomorrow would be incredible.

That guy, name tag reading Equius, came by every so often offering something but nothing seemed good enough.

Until he saw it. Ironically it had been near that blue mug he had first seen. Of course it was a mug, a nice white one, but it also came with a lovely little addition. When it got hot, words would appear at the bottom of the mug. It said, very boldly, ‘I’M A DOUCHE’. Karkat felt his fingers tingle as he lifted the gift off of the shelf, eyes all but sparkling at the sheer beauty one mug could have. He would remove it from the box that detailed what happened, wrap it up, and Kankri who was a lover of hot tea and coffee, would love it.

Then drink it at work for all to see and oh my god. “I have found the Holy Grail and it is insulting my brother.”

Equius, who had been hoping that this customer would find what he was after, smiled faintly. “Oh. You found what you wanted?”

"Yes." Karkat grinned, tapping his fingers against the box. "The most perfect thing in all of creation."

"I shall ring it up for you." Equius made his way back towards the counter, and was surprised to see there were a few customers standing there. Where was Tavros? Had had abandoned his post? He’d have to talk to him about that, as he apologized to Karkat despite the fact he’d already moved to the back of the small, barely significant line.

Meanwhile Gamzee had indeed lured Tavros away from the counter to assist him in finding that comic series he no longer even remembered the name of. He could recall points and moments, a girl breaking out of jail, a huge dragon that lived underground, and a talking leaf.

It was an interesting collection of things to remember from a comic series he had no other memory of but what could you do? Tavros huffed a little to himself since it sounded so familiar to him as well but he just could not name it despite his best efforts. What kind of comic store employee was he? Still he took him to the more independent published works since it didn’t sound at all mainstream.

"Hmmm…" Tavros crouched a little to look at the comics and graphic novels on the lower shelf. "Do you remember the style? Was it detailed? Simple…?"

Gamzee’s eyes were on Tavros. He knew he shouldn’t be looking like this but by bending down like that the back of Tavros’ shirt had slipped up the smallest bit. And now he could see the full curve of that behind and oh bless all that was holy for it was a gift to humanity.

"Gamzee?"

"Uh!" Gamzee tensed up immediately, eyes zipping away from Tavros to stare at the books. "I, I dunno man I think it was like. Disney shit but not Disney cuz of all the death and shit going down."

Tavros paused for a moment. He stood up, walked behind Gamzee to move further down before grabbing a thick graphic novel from one of the upper shelves. And in doing that the front of his shirt lifted too and given his position Gamzee got a good side look at the others well shaped stomach oh heavens he’d need to find a place to sit soon since all the blood in his body was fighting over which way to go.

"Was this it?" Tavros held out the book.

"Wasn’t that thick." Gamzee mumbled since the width of the book was bigger than the dictionary.

"Well no but this is all of the editions printed in one!" explained the other, "It’s called Bone, have a look but I think it might be what you’re after."

Turned out it was. Gamzee recognized the style immediately and as he flipped through the many many pages he saw recognizable moments. He smiled brightly and gushed his thanks to the other as they made their way back to the counter only to find Equius and Karkat there.

"Where the hell were you?" Karkat asked before he saw just who was there with him. Whoa what the Hell.

"Indeed." Equius echoed the sentiment as he placed Karkat’s purchase into a bag and handed it over the counter.

"I was helping this customer here in locating a graphic novel." Tavros replied as he made his way around the counter, "And now I am completing the transaction."

Karkat watched Gamzee carefully while Tavros handled his purchase, the book being over fifty bucks was a surprise but Gamzee barely blinked an eye as he paid for it. Meanwhile Equius had moved to the back of the store and returned with a small rolled up poster, which he began pinning up on a board that was set up besides the entrance way to the back of the store. It showed posters of upcoming indie, game, or comic based events.

Stuff Karkat and Gamzee had never been into, naturally.

"Well here you go," Tavros handed Gamzee the bag. "I hope your reunion with the story a good one!" he smiled.

"Man, so do I, but I think I’m gonna hang onto this brick of a comic for a while to come yet." Gamzee smiled back, meaning he would love it forever only because he’d found it thanks to Tavros.

"All right, all right let’s go. I gotta go find wrapping paper for this baby, and a box to put it in." Karkat said.

"I hope your brother likes the gift." Equius added, as Karkat passed him as he finished putting the new poster up.

Karkat couldn’t help but grin. “Oh he’ll love it.”

Gamzee just looked a little curious as he followed Karkat, eyes trailing to the poster board where he saw the new poster now proudly on display detailing the upcoming Pride March through town. There was one held every year, where the LGBTA Community would celebrate and have a grand parade through town which would end on the river banks with a concert that helped raise awareness and money for the community. Gamzee made a mental note to find out who gave out those posters since he was most definitely going to put one up in his store, and attend the celebration himself.

He gave Tavros a wave, and was soon gone.

"So is that him?" Equius inquired, leaning on the counter, eyeing Tavros from behind his glasses.

Giving a huff, Tavros nodded. “Yeah, that’s him.”

"I can see now why Aradia is so adamant in calling him attractive. I am fairly certain he was wearing eyeliner." Equius cast a glance towards the escalators, even if the tall purple haired man and the shorter, dark haired one, was now long gone.

"Yeah he wears it and other stuff. It’s no big deal." shrugged Tavros as he moved around from behind the counter, "I think he looks good in it."

Equius made a non-committal grunt and nodded his head and was about to say something before the phone rang. Oh well, gossip time was over, time to get back to work.


	7. Mother Kurloz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The parade is that weekend, and Gamzee gets an unexpected order from his sibling Kurloz, as well as a check up phone call. Plus we get a brand new character introduction underway in the form of John Egbert.

Gamzee Makara was stretched out on his double sized bed, laptop sitting haphazardly on his lap. Really, he knew he should be sitting at his table instead and craning your neck to look down at this screen was bad but he was beyond caring at this point. It was the end of a busy motherfuckin' week and he wanted to do something relaxing.

Like watch British Bake Off.

Only his grand attempt was being hindered because for some reason the website was being assaulted by multicolored pixels making it all but impossible for him to take in the glory that was British baking.

"Oh come the mother fuck ON!" Gamzee shouted at the screen, grabbing his poor abused laptop and gave it a good hard shake even if he knew at heart it would do jack shit. "I can't see the eclairs this is SUCH BULLSHIT!"

Few knew of Gamzee Makara's temper. Most of the times it was like a sleeping bear, dozing peacefully in the cave that was his mind. He was calm, in control, sometimes with a sleepy demeanor. But anger him enough and the bear would transform into a beast of absolute rage that could not be calmed.

And it reared its ugly head when his internet wasn't performing. Gamzee snarled at the screen, as if that would fix it as much as shaking it would, before he closed the laptop promptly and pushed it off his lap.

"Bah." he dismissed it.

Then he flopped down onto the bed and just took in the environment around him. It was, as Karkat so eloquently put it, as if several tornadoes came roaring through one window before ripping their way out of the other only to be followed by a ground shaking earth quake that tumbled anything left standing after the strong winds to tumble to the floor. Granted, at least he could see some of his floors carpet (it was green, right?) between the piles of clothing, and other assorted bags.

Besides his bed was a small set of drawers where various small articles of clothing was kept within like his socks, underwear, gloves and wrist bands from his youth where he used to wear black almost twenty four seven and had spikes everywhere. He hadn't the heart to throw them out, those old worn chains linked together and would no doubt spend the rest of their life in his bottom drawer.

Sitting precariously atop of the drawers, was a lamp shade besides his digital clock which screamed the time in bright neon green colors. The only other thing on the drawers was a photo frame, said photo partly concealed right now thanks to a pair of boxers being flung over it during a fit of one handed passion the night before.

When not concealed by underwear the photo would show Gamzee sitting on a bench during a park party he could no longer remember the purpose of. There he was, grinning stupidly with an arm around Karkat and giving the camera the usual thumbs up while Karkat looked like he was serious considering murder as a last resort to get away. And sitting on the other side of Gamzee was Kurloz, looking impeccably flawless as usual with eye shadow game on point, painted lips, and that serene smile as painted hands settled in that dainty lap.

Honestly if you looked at Gamzee and Kurloz you'd have to squint to see the family resemblance.

"Suppose I better eat some." he sighed as he swung his legs over the bed, almost tripped over the bag where he held a great collection of recipe books and binders. Swearing loudly, Gamzee made his way down the small hall, passing his bathroom on the left, and lounge on the right, and stepped forth into his cozy (see: small) kitchen.

How cruel it was that Gamzee Makara, so gifted with the power of baking and cooking to be bestowed with a kitchen he couldn't fit all his baking things in. His stove he'd had brought up, he'd ripped out the tiny pitiful thing he'd gotten when he bought the place and had replaced it with a big one built for baking. In his lounge were boxes, piles of boxes, where pots and pans and trays and whisks and beaters and mixers all took place since his cupboards and pantries were filled with ingredients and food he ate normally.

Opening the fridge he pulled out a meal he'd cooked a few days ago; some rice mixed with stew. He dumped it into a saucepan, added some water, and tossed it onto his stove and turned it on as he grabbed his spoon to begin mixing it as he hummed.

Honestly he could probably afford a bigger place now, but he'd grown attached to his small kitchen, his balcony big enough for two people to sit out on it as he looked across the yard to the neighbors next door who kept chickens. Honest to god, chickens in the city. How many times he'd be awake before those roosters began their morning calling...

He yawned loudly, and was reaching for some salt to add some extra flavor to his meal still on the stove when the phone on the wall rang suddenly. Gamzee turned the heat down to a soft simmer and walked over, picking up the phone.

"Makara Morgue how can I motherfuckin' help you?" he asked, going back to the stove.

"Yes I have a body that needs to be cremated." the soft voice over the other side of the phone replied.

"Kurloz!" Gamzee literally gasped, and grinned. "Hey there, to what do I owe the motherfuckin' pleasure?"

"Well it had been a while since we talked."

"A fortnight ain't a long while."

"Fourteen days is a lifetime."

Gamzee snorted extra loudly. "Oh! Oh yeah I gonna ask are you gonna be making your way down that fine parade next weekend?" he asked, holding the phone between his ear and shoulder so he could grip his saucepan and fuss with the mix of food with the wooden spoon so nothing stuck.

"Well considering what it's all up and about little brother I think I'll be making a fashionable appearance as always." Kurloz replied, "Which is another reason why I'm calling you up this fine day."

"What do you want, motherfucker?"

"Cupcakes."

"Cupcakes?"

"That's what I said, what is your hearing going on you?"

"Nah man it's called active listening shows I am really listenin' to what you're saying and showing it by echoing back key words." he replied, grabbing a spoon to test how far cooked the food was.

"Very nice business skills, Gamzee. But what I'm talking about is having your little bakery make cupcakes. Cronus and I are throwing an after party, after the parade is done, and we're inviting many of our friends in the community and we thought considering that your whole business is around baking instead of us attempting you could perhaps do it for us. I will pay you, of course."

Gamzee frowned slightly in thought, before he grinned toothily. "Nah you ain't gotta go and do that! I'd be motherfuckin' glad to do that for you!"

"Gamzee, this is a lot of cupcakes I'm talking about. You'd loose money, surely."

"No way, I ain't gonna be taking no money from you or Cronus for this here shindig."

Kurloz gave an exasperated groan over their end of the phone, and Gamzee could practically imagine the wrinkled brow, or bridge pinching going on.

"You're impossible." Kurloz sighed.

"Well I used to be." Gamzee pointed out.

"Now there's an understatement of the century. Any way, you do know you and anyone you want are invited to the party too. Technically we're gate crashing that concert that takes place after it, but nobody else will have expertly made cupcakes from Miracle Pie House now, will they?"

"Fuck no and if they are I'd be askin' how they got into my store to steal my shit!"

Kurloz laughed.

"So what kind of cupcakes are y'all thinking about?" Gamzee asked, finally satisfied with his meal he got out a dish and unceremoniously dumped the saucepan's contents onto it, making a bit of a mess in the process. Oops.

"Rainbow, of course."

"Fuckin' duh." Gamzee smiled, setting the saucepan into the sink and turned on the water before squeezing in some dish washing liquid, and left it to sit. "How many?"

"Thirty seems a safe number."

"Got it yeah, thirty rainbows for the parade day." Gamzee nodded, hoping he would remember this. Damn it, where's a pen when you need one?

"Sooo...?" Kurloz asked.

"So...?" Gamzee asked back, now hunting in his kitchen for a piece of paper and a pen to write down what Kurloz wanted.

"So how are you? What's going on in your life? Do I need to torture information out of you all over again?"

Gamzee flushed a bit, but finally found a pencil.

"Ain't nothin' going on. Beyond Karkat starting at my gig as my life saver and all, ain't a thing more to be reporting in on."

"So no news on him, then?"

Now Gamzee could imagine that wicked smile painting Kurloz's lips.

"Well no."

"Agh. Gamzee you need to stop fooling around and just up and tell the guy you got it bad for him! I know y'all scared he might not be into you or something like that but you can't be tugging on this band aid forever you gotta rip that shit off fast and move on with your life."

"Holy shit calm down, y'all ain't mom."

"I practically am." Kurloz replied quickly.

Well that was true now, wasn't it? After their dad giving them the one two fuck you when Gamzee was only thirteen and never showing his sorry sack of shit ass around them ever again who had been left to look after him but Kurloz? Just old enough to be a legal guardian but holy shit had Gamzee made that whole task Hell on Earth for poor Kurloz.

He sat back, rubbing at his forehead. "Shit. I know. Sorry."

"Apology accepted. But I mean it you should tell him! Maybe even at the parade, is he going? Ask him to go with you. It's important for everyone to offer this community a basic understanding and support." Kurloz insisted. "Then he can get his rightful education on and you can be telling this cutie with a booty that y'all wanna make miraculous music with him."

"I ain't telling him like that!"

"Well do it however you want, you just need to do it."

"I know, Karkat told me this shit already." Gamzee grumped, slumping back into his chair and grabbing his spoon.

"Well listen to me, not him. He's far too fuckin' grouchy all the time how is he ever supposed to find somebody."

"Holy shit Kurloz stop it you ain't a motherfuckin' matchmaker..." he rubbed at his forehead now, holding his phone in his other hand along with his spoon.

"All right all right I an see I'm pushin' it now. I'll be seeing you next Saturday, hmm?" Kurloz asked.

"Hell yeah." Gamzee smiled, "Can't wait. Is Cronus comin' or is he too busy?"

"Oh he's most definitely coming. I made sure he's got time off to come with me."

"All right awesome sis, I'll be seeing you then yeah?"

"See you then lil' bro."

He hung up, and dug his spoon into his bowl before blinking. "...shit, was it thirty or forty?"

~*~

"John!"

"Heyyy old man."

Mr. Egbert gave an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes, before smiling warmly as he made his way through the counter to embrace the twenty something man who'd walked into Miracle Pie House out of the rain that was belting down outside. At least the horrible weather was happening now instead of raining on the parade, that would be simply horrible. Imagine all the running mascara, ruined costumes, and soaked skin!

Gamzee smiled, "Whoa John I ain't seen you in motherfuckin' ages!"

"Wow Gamzee good thing I'm not like, a customer or anything or I'd find your language too crude for school." John snorted, letting go of his dad to smirk at the purple haired man behind the teller.

"I was too cool for school." Gamzee smirked.

"Is that why they kicked you out?" John replied.

"Son please."

Karkat, grumbling and swearing against the weather outside, came walking into the store and shaking his poor soaked umbrella. He stopped when he saw this dark skinned man with slick black hair, and horrible nerdy square glasses in the store with an arm around Mr. Egbert.

"Karkat, brother!" Gamzee waved him over, then laughed. "Holy Hell you look like a drowned cat."

"I feel like one." Karkat mumbled as he walked around the stranger who didn't seem to be a regular kind of customer, considering Mr. Egbert was actually out in the store rather than his usual place out back with Jane and Gamzee. "Who..."

"This is my son, John!" Mr. Egbert said proudly, slapping his hand against the dark haired young man's back.

He didn't look a thing like Mr. Egbert at all. For one he wasn't white nor did he look like he had any running in his blood at all. No similar nose. No matching ears. Or even face shape. Karkat pursed his lips together, and narrowed one of his eyes critically, doing that thing he normally did when being introduced to people.

"Does he always do that or am I just lucky?" John 'whispered' to Gamzee, lifting a hand to his mouth as he spoke.

"Honk!" Gamzee laughed, shaking a hand to Karkat's face. "Didn't your momma teach you staring's rude?"

"I'm adopted, if that's what you're thinking." John explained, quickly. "I know right, I wouldn't have figured it out at all when I was growing up at all!"

"Clearly." Karkat said, reaching to unbutton his soaking wet jacket. He'd been out from under cover when the clouds had decided to take one huge piss on him in the form of the rain storm, and he'd just managed to get his cheap and nasty umbrella open as he'd been running across the street.

"Any way," turning his attention from Karkat to his dad, and Gamzee, John grinned widely. "I was in the neighborhood and I figured I'd stop by before this weekend is all."

This weekend. Karkat's eyes glanced to the poster board where, sure enough, Gamzee had found one of those pride parade posters to stick up. It was happening this Saturday. He glanced back to John as he made his way behind the counter, edging towards the door way where he could dump his wet jacket and partly ruined umbrella.

"I'm organizing a group to walk through with the rest of the crowd and we just finished up our small gathering. Realized, hey my old man works near here! So viola, here I am."

Riveting stuff, indeed. Karkat dumped his jacket on a hook, his umbrella soon joining it so they had a safe place to drip dry sadly he could do nothing about his pants which were a bit wet but not soaked at least.

"Oh yeah the ace team! You guys gonna be wearing matchin' shirts or some shit?" Gamzee asked, before quickly ducking out back to check in on something with Jane but clearly showed interest still given he peeked his head over the swinging doors leading to the back of the store.

"No, no shirts this year. We spent a good time on making flags though," John snorted, "And one of the guys got an idea to get balloons and help them spell out 'ASEXY' or something like that. I said hey, if you wanna spend money on that sorta thing by all means! What's a few more balloons to that parade am I right?"

"I highly doubt the crowds will care for more balloons at all." Karkat commented, running a hand through his hair subconsciously trying to get its style right again.

"You never know we may end up insulting that one person who's counting all the balloons and ours is the one group that has ONE balloon that goes over their balloon limit and wig out and try to stab our balloons or something." grinned John, before shaking a fist in a determined way. "But I'd take a bullet for our poor balloon, and die a hero in the arms of my group mates, end up in a made for TV movie and fade into obscurity. The perfect ploy."

Karkat wondered if Mr. Egbert had dropped John on his head a lot when he was a baby.

He was just about to head round the back when he heard the little tingle of the door opening again and turned his head to peer at who it was, half expecting it to be like, Jane's brother or Gamzee's long lost father but instead it was somebody else who Gamzee would be probably happy to see right now. Tavros, but he was not alone? A lady who only came up to his shoulders hurried into the store ahead of him, holding what looked like Tavros own jacket over her head. She was what you'd call a full sized woman, he guessed, and she had bright red hair which obviously came from a bottle since no way in Hell was that natural.

The girl was laughing, and so was Tavros, despite how soaking wet he was thanks to the rain. His hair was now flat against his head, his shirt which was grey with The Incredible Hulk's fist on the front of it being soaked so much it seemed to now cling to his frame in the right amount of ways one would truly appreciate especially if their name was Gamzee Makara.

The one man on the block whose name was Gamzee Makara turned out to be watching the two with great interest. Yes, there is Tavros wearing a wet shirt that was being very clingy and his hair looked incredibly sexy being down like that but who was this girl with him? He watched as she reached out and slapped at his side with her hand, snorting a laugh of amusement at something only the two of them understood.

"Whoa, full house!" the girl grinned, her red painted lips pulling back as she checked out the group.

"Try not to make a mess on the floor Aradia," Tavros smiled a bit as he reached back into his pocket, carefully making his way around the group to seek out the usual snacks he got.

"That's what he said." Aradia hummed as she licked her lips, moving to the small pie slices to scope out what was on offer for the day.

"Stop being so vulgar."

John was still talking, probably about the parade, or how he was going to be an astronaut, or even a fire eater Gamzee didn't know since he wasn't really listening to the conversation any more. He was watching the pair as they made their way around the store, how the girl seemed to just end up touching Tavros every now and then. Nothing big, yet big enough. A hand to his back, a pinch to his cheek, and the shared snorts of laughter between the two made his stomach suddenly feel very uneasy.

"Heyyy Gamzee," Tavros greeted him finally, having made his way around the crowd when he'd realized that they weren't in line for anything.

"Oh! Tavros, hey...!" he smiled back, "Y'all wanting the usual?"

Tavros shook his head, pulling out his special rewards card. Despite the fact he'd been given the new, up to date one, he was still using that cheap little paper one that Gamzee had scribbled on a week ago. "Mmmhmm, today is a hot chocolate kind of day so I am grabbing two of those. Equius refuses to have hot chocolate though, so he will be having his boring old coffee."

Karkat turned his head slightly at the mention of Equius' name and finally spotted Tavros since he'd been caught up discussing on whether or not hand stitching a huge ass sign was worth it if you could have easily borrowed a sewing machine from someone. The girl Tavros was with was still admiring the pies, making the kinds of noises that made his ears tint a little. This guy must really love pie... and not just because of her shape either. She sounded enthusiastic to a tee.

He made the drinks, watching as Tavros returned to the girls side and they began to talk animatedly about something or another; combined with the music, and John talking to his father, Karkat, and Jane it was impossible to make out what they were saying. But he couldn't eavesdrop any further, since he had to focus on his work, and soon he'd set the lids on the drinks before ringing up the rest of their order. Two slices of pie, but as Tavros was leaving he did over hear one last thing.

"-if I could forget our date!"

And with that the door shut behind them, and he watched as the girl used Tavros' jacket to protect her from the pouring rain as he hurried along with her, across the street, until they were out of sight entirely.

Now all Gamzee could hear was the sound of the rain, and the distant buzz of John's words ringing in his ears.


	8. Communications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurloz drops in on Gamzee to speak some mirthful truths, and Gamzee seeks out his own answers after being invited to a quick sudden party at The Minotaur by Tavros.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Illustration from the talented [skepticspoon](http://spooneaterarts.tumblr.com)!

He could remember making his way through the rest of the day, oh yes he could remember that. The smell of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and the touch of food beneath his hands but little to nothing else seemed to have latched itself to his memory. No words, no conversations, just... a dense fog.

So here he was in his apartment and he had no knowledge of how he got to be here. There was no memory of coming home on the tram, making his way up the stairs, unlocking and re-locking his door and now he stood in his small, tiny kitchen with his wet jacket in his arms and his umbrella in the other.

Then his things were on the floor, and Gamzee was falling face down onto his bed in his slightly wet clothes, and was done.

Just. Done.

And he knew it was stupid, he was fully aware how pathetic it was. This was like grade A high school level bull shit. Liking a person, liking a person so much you imagined scenarios and a life together only to have them be shattered by the cold harshness of reality. Like hitting a mirror full of images and reflections with a hammer and watching the pieces shatter into a million pieces. Unable to be put together again properly.

"Fuck." he lifts his head, and rubs his palm over his eyes and hated the fact that they felt wet under his touch.

Why did he do this? Why did he do this? Whenever he got hooked on something, he got hooked into it hard. But wait, was he comparing Tavros to the drugs? Was he really going so low to compare this beautifully handsome funny man to the chemicals which had almost cost him all of his friends, his future, and his life? The idea made him feel sickened and he sat up, now kneeling on his bed, and staring down at his messy blankets beneath him.

His eyes trailed to his right arm, to that massive constellation of stars and swirling star dust that painted his skin. Those stars, their gleam, helped him to hide the multiple pinpricks into his skin. For so long he'd assaulted his body with chemicals, his skin had begun to blacken. And when that had happened, he'd moved to injecting his left arm instead.

Without his tattoos he would look a horrible mess whenever someone would see his arms. After all that drama in his past, once he'd recovered and gotten back to a healthy weight under the watchful eyes of both Kurloz and Karkat, he'd gotten the tattoos. He'd always wanted them, a tattoo, but now it felt necessary for him. To hide his history, to hide the scars, and to offer a special brand of recovery he couldn't put words to.

"Ain't like that..." he mouthed to himself as he rubbed his right arm with his left, which was far more damaged, since he was left handed. He then grabbed his arm entirely and tilted his head back. "Tavros ain't a drug he ain't a fix he ain't a cure I don't see him like that."

Who was he talking to, himself? The world? He didn't even know but he had to say it out loud.

Gamzee was just about ready to lay back down again when he heard knocking at his front door. He swore, not wanting company right now but not wanting to be rude and hide either. What if it was Karkat? Or a delivery of something? Sure, packages never came this late but you never know.

He made his way to the door, unlocked it and pulled it open slowly. "Yeah...?"

"You look like shit." was the first thing Kurloz said upon seeing him.

And of course, Kurloz did not. He didn't know what it was about the other but ever since forever Kurloz made any clothing placed upon their body just work. Be it that horrendous Halloween costume that she wore almost every year which was a skin tight black skeleton costume with purple booty shorts and purple heels and gloves, to the fashionable piece she wore today which was a purple and black business suit with a short skirt up to her knees... Kurloz made it work.

Hell, not even her mess of black curly hair was hindered by the moisture in the air as she held her clear umbrella above her head, and had a scarf that had skulls designed into it.

"Are you going to let me in brother, or are you going to leave me to catch my motherfuckin' death in this drizzle?"

"Shit. Sorry." Gamzee pulled the door open and watched as his graceful, impeccable sister walked into the apartment and shut the door behind her. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" he asked.

Kurloz was eyeing the small kitchen, namely the filthy pots and plates in the sink. She huffed, closing her umbrella and hanging it on the hook on the back of the door, and hung her bag from the same hook as she worked her scarf off slowly. "I was in the neighborhood so I thought I would stop by and check in on a brother to see how he's handling himself." she replied, her voice its usual almost androgynous grey tone which would have a person who didn't know her over the phone trying to work out on whether she was male or female.

"I'm fine." Gamzee answered, probably too quickly, as he watched Kurloz retrieve some rubber gloves from under the sink. He knew better than to protest; Kurloz always did this anytime she came over. If she found a mess, she would begin to silently do it without question and arguing would only cause a headache to both of them.

Kurloz already had the plug in the sink, and the water running as she looked at him. His clothes were a mess, he'd forgotten to take his name tag off, his hair was a hideous oily mess which needed a recolor soon unless he wanted everyone to see his roots, and he just looked... down.

"Brother if you think I'm gonna believe that than you really don't know me at all." Kurloz said, curtly, before focusing back on the pot which she was now scrubbing clean.

He hated this, but he also genuinely appreciated it. Just how Kurloz had managed to stay with him as long as she did was a mystery. How long had she been both a mother and father to him now? Since he was thirteen. So... fourteen years since their father had up and abandoned his two kids without a reason why. Fourteen years since Gamzee had donned that black garb with spikes and leather and fishnets proclaiming that life was horribly hard as his eighteen year old sibling had tried to rear him into gear.

How he used to scream at her, sometimes even using the wrong pronouns on purpose just like their father had. Running away for weeks at a time because Kurloz was doing her best and he was too much of a stupid idiot to even think how she felt.

Kurloz was on the cusp of a life for herself when their dad had left. Suddenly she was the legal guardian of her thirteen year old brother who was so mad and angry about their father he took it out on her. She had to forgo any attempt at college, community or otherwise, got herself a job and worked to earn money to keep him in school and well fed.

And how had he thanked her? By getting addicted to drugs.

"...I think Tavros is dating someone."

"Only think?" Kurloz asked, pointedly, as she was now working on some cutlery.

He frowned.

"What?" she asked, looking at him now. "Did you see him kissing this person? With his arms around them?"

"...no..."

Kurloz smiled, faintly, her purple painted lips pulling back as she did to show her white pearly teeth. "Then how did you come to think they are dating?"

So Gamzee told her. About that day, the laughter, the jokes, the touching, and how Tavros had said something about a date when they left.

"Gamzee." Kurloz was now drying the plates, looking to her brother. "You are aware of how much you touch Karkat, aren't you?"

"What?"

"You've always got an arm around his shoulders. Or tugging on him. Sometimes you even out right kiss his face with little to no provocation. To anybody around you, they might think you two were dating."

"Date Karkat?? Wargh, no! Holy shit!"

"I'm not saying you do I am saying those around you who don't know how close the both of you are may assume you are. Quite possibly this girl is Tavros' Karkat."

That idea had not come to Gamzee at all. Even that 'date' comment now suddenly seemed... not romantic at all. Sometimes when he caught up with Karkat he himself called it a date even if nothing 'date-like' even remotely happened. Could that be it? She could just be his friend, a best friend, like how Karkat was his best friend.

Suddenly he felt very silly.

"You're blushing." Kurloz pointed out softly.

"Oh fuck off."

"I love you, too."

~*~

Things had been feeling that little bit better, they had honestly. Gamzee had gotten the order for Kurloz's party under way and they would be fresh and ready for it that Saturday. For now, it was Friday, and the usual crowds outside in the city on a Friday night were weeding their way through the city streets.

Calliope was already gone for the day, as had most of the rest of his crew. Normally, now, he would be closing up and heading to the bank deposit box to dump the petty cash from the till for the day but he'd been informed by Tavros that lunch that The Minotaur was throwing a bit of a party that night.

That he, Gamzee, was more than welcome to come as was Karkat.

"What. Really?" Gamzee had asked, as he'd handed Tavros his order that lunch.

"Well yeah! The more the merrier! A local comic artist is getting his book published, so we're having a bit of a celebration for it since our store is going to be the only store in town to carry it." Tavros had explained, pushing his change into his pocket. "It's never anything too fancy, but..." he shrugged a little. "So do you think you and Karkat could make it?"

"Hell yeah!" he'd answered immediately, without even considering on whether or not Karkat would actually want to attend the party or not.

"Awesome! We start around eight thirty, since that's when the store officially 'closes', so we'll see you around then?" Tavros asked.

"With motherfuckin' bells on."

"With bells on." Karkat said, now, arms folded and glaring at Gamzee as he locked the cash register for the night. "Way to drag me into your stupid nerd boner hunting party without properly asking me first." he hissed.

"Aw c'mon brother. It's a party!"

"I hate parties. Especially nerd parties."

"Y'all ain't ever been to a nerd party to hate it." Gamzee pointed out.

"I hate it on principle." Karkat shut his eyes.

Gamzee sighed, but wrapped his arm around his friend and gave him a squeeze. "C'mon bro don't be all up and like that. Tomorrow's gonna be a big day for everyone, so this is a Hell of a nice way to get us into the partyin' spirit! Plus we get to see Tavros and Equius again."

"Who said I wanted to see that big sweaty mess again?"

"Nobody." Gamzee replied, casually, as he finally turned the lights out and locked the store up properly.

So once the money was dumped into the deposit box, Karkat begrudgingly followed Gamzee towards The Minotaur. They passed some fast food chains, the usual Friday night people in the city lurking and drinking, and finally descended the stairs to the underground store.

It was already decked out for Halloween.

Ghosts, skulls, witches, monsters, it was all over the place. Zombies seemed to also be a pretty prominent figure here and there, and Gamzee had to whistle and appreciate all the time and effort that would have gone into something like this.

"Holy shit it's only the end of September how could they..." Karkat said to himself.

"Miracles." Gamzee whispered.

The place was, surprisingly, fairly full. There were people of various ages both teenagers all the way to fully fledged adults. The bookshelves that held the comics had been pushed back a little, and a table full of spread was laid out with drinks, and finger foods. A radio somewhere was playing music over the speaker system in the room, not too loud thankfully.

And above the counter was a banner stating congratulations to a name Karkat did not recognize. Judging how the counter was covered in copies of a zombie comic told him quickly enough what genre the comic fell under.

"Oh good, you're here!" Tavros' voice caught Gamzee's attention immediately, and he walked up to the two with two plastic glasses and held them out to them. "Welcome, thanks for coming! Don't worry, it's not alcoholic."

"So how is it a party?" Karkat asked, but took the glass regardless.

"Hush bro we gotta be up early tomorrow." Gamzee shooshed Karkat.

"Oh?"

Karkat decided to move away from the two, weeding his way through the crowd. Seems everybody here knew everybody else and they were talking about things he knew little to nothing on. A new Batman reboot, some new arc in a on going series, ponies... what the Hell man.

Then he bumped into Equius and he almost dropped his drink because Equius was painted grey. Any and all exposed skin was grey, his skin painted to look dead and lifeless. He even wore a wig, black as night, which covered his bleached hair entirely. His clothes were ripped in places, and fake blood splattered here and there.

"Holy shit did Halloween hit you with its car?" Karkat asked.

"Worse. Aradia did."

"...how in the Hell did she..."

"Strong persuasion." Equius replied stiffly.

"Wow. I gotta say I'm not a man who's impressed easily but I am fucking impressed." Karkat said as he looked the towering man over. The work on his body was almost the kind of shit you'd see in cinemas with big budgets. He looked good; she'd even used some kind of fake wax make up stuff on one of his exposed arms, making it look like it had gotten a bite taken out of it.

"I. Appreciate that...?"

Meanwhile Tavros was helping himself to another glass of drink. "Oh the parade!" he smiled, "So you're going are you?"

"Well yeah..." Gamzee said as he shrugged his shoulders as innocently as he could, avoiding Tavros' gaze as he looked around the decorated store. "I got some friends who ain't straight, shit my own sister's doing a thing after it and all too."

"Oh you have a sister?" Tavros asked.

"Yeah, practically raised me 'n shit. Name of Kurloz and she's a classy piece of ass. Had me up and bake cupcakes for her party picnic thing that she 'n her beau are throwing. All right guy if you can get past his insistent flirtin' with everyone even if he's been happily taken for years." Gamzee went on to explain further.

"A parade then a picnic party, wow, sounds like you've got a full day ahead of you!"

"Mmm," Gamzee nodded, and was about to speak again when Tavros was suddenly being joined by somebody else.

He recognized her immediately, of course he did. The red hair. The height. The body shape. She was dressed up a little, looking a little green around the gills with fake stitching in on her face and exposed arms. It was her - the girl from the store a few days ago. And he watched as one of her arms snaked around Tavros' middle, tapping her painted nails against his side.

"Hey!" she greeted, "What're you two over here gossiping about?"

"Aradia," Tavros, for some reason unknown to Gamzee, blushed. "really. Ah, um. Gamzee, this is Aradia. She actually runs this place!"

"Oh?" Gamzee asks.

"Technically my old man owns it, but I keep this place from going under. Well. Further under than it already is, you know what I'm saying?" Aradia asks, her black lips pulling into a smile.

He'd laugh if he wasn't feeling suddenly very uncomfortable. At least she pulled her arm away from Tavros now, and had settled both her hands on her own hips.

"Gamzee was just telling me about the parade tomorrow, you know I almost forgot about it?" Tavros asked her.

"Well duh, you'd forget your own head if it wasn't screwed on right." Aradia replied.

Gamzee watched the two as they talked back and forth, holding his glass of drink in his hand. Kurloz's words whispered in his mind from the back of his skull, that he had no real proof they were together. It was just an assumption. That communication mistakes happen.

"Are you two dating?"

Holy shit.

Holy shit.

He did not just ask that.

Please tell him his mouth did not just open and fart out that horrible question.

That's the kind of shit teenagers asked each other. You don't go around and presume two people are sleeping together just because they look close.

Holy shit.

Holy shit.

Gamzee, looking like a deer caught in the headlights of life, holds a hand up. "Wait, stop. I--"

Aradia laughed. She threw her head back and laughed, hugging her stomach as she did. As if Gamzee had just told the greatest joke in all of history and it was consuming her body, mind, and soul while Tavros just stood there, face red, looking like he wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and never come out again.

"Holy!" Aradia snorted, wiping at her perfect eyeliner. "Whoa, hah! God damn, now that's hilarious. I don't know where you got that idea from Gamzee.." she sighed, becoming perfectly calm and in business mode as if she'd flipped a switch. "But no. We're just friends, really good friends who've known each other through a lot of shit."

"I'm so sorry." Gamzee spluttered. "Really I didn't--"

"So are you and Karkat dating?" Aradia asked.

"...is this pay back?" he asked.

"Maybe, maybe not." she smiled, glancing at Tavros who was still red as a stop sign.

Gamzee swallowed dryly despite having a glass full of drink still in his hand. "No we... we ain't."

"Oh good!" Aradia beamed, clapping her hands together. "That's wonderful news!"

"It is?"

"Yes!" Aradia said, "So we're all super sexy single people at a party with fake drinks on the night before a big gay and lesbian and bisexual and asexual parade tomorrow! I think that deserves to be a good thing, yeah?" she asked.

"Yeah I guess." Gamzee said as he carefully looked to Tavros who, thankfully, was no longer so red in the face. "I was. Gonna ask if you were wanting to come along to it, I mean." he hoped he sounded casual, he prayed he sounded calm, "After the parade we got that concert and my sisters' picnic party and I figured we could hang out and not be at work while doing it for once..."

Aradia felt like she was fit to burst. The cute guy from the bakery was practically asking Tavros out and she was right here. She looked to Tavros, who was stammering, trying to get words out.

"I think it'd do him good to get out and hang with you," she spoke up, smiling. "He doesn't get out nearly as often as you may think. Being dragged to a gym and doing dungeons and dragons is NOT my idea of hanging out too often."

"Aradia..." Tavros warned.

"What, it's true. You don't get out. And here's your friend, Gamzee, asking you to come to what I think is a pretty big thing for him! I think it's sweet. I think you should say yes and have some fun!" she insists.

Tavros brought a hand up and rubbed at his temples, and Gamzee felt like maybe this wasn't the right time to ask him to go anywhere with him, let alone a LGBTA pride parade and then concert. He wanted to take it all back. He wanted to not ask if they were dating. He wanted to go back to the not really casual but still casual talking they'd been experiencing till now. It felt like he'd been just learning how to float before throwing himself into the deep end.

"While it is... true I do not get out often," Tavros said, "I've never been to one of those parades before I don't know what... what I would do?" he asked.

"You just gotta enjoy yourself." Gamzee explained. "You can hang with me, watch the parade, hand out some cupcakes 'n shit... just. Show your support, yeah?"

"If I wasn't working tomorrow I'd totally go." Aradia huffed, "But Sollux is working the crowd so he'll let me know how the whole thing goes down."

"Sollux? ...Officer Captor?" he asked.

"Holy shit you know Sollux too?" she asked back.

"Well. He loves his double donuts 'n stuff... he's been a customer bout as long as Tavros has." Gamzee said, looking back to Tavros to ensure he was still there and hadn't sneaked off to avoid declining going to the parade.

"Of course he does. Ironic little police piece of shit." Aradia laughed, "But yeah he's my boyfriend. We got crazy hours and we almost never see each other and it gets frustrating as fuck but we manage."

"Aw I'm sorry. He's a pretty chill dude for a cop."

"I know right, I'm lucky. So many cops are assholes."

"Ahem." Tavros coughed, but immediately regretted it since Gamzee and Aradia looked at him at the same time. "Uh I mean.... I. I think I will go with you."

Aradia looked like she was holding in a gasp while Gamzee let both hers, and his own, out. He stood a little straighter. "You. You will?"

"Well yeah I do have the day off and I do not have anything else planned so... it sounds fun. Will I have to bring anything? A flag or.. something?" Tavros asked.

"Uhhhh well... normally you wave a flag that represents your sexuality and they always got a shit load of those around." Gamzee explained, "What's.. what's your colors?" he asked. "I got a lotta friends who're in the parade so they could grab you one for free..."

Whether or not Tavros and Aradia were dating weren't the key issue here. If Tavros was straight, or asexual, or just not into dudes then Gamzee's hope of anything happening may well be killed here like Old Yeller in the barn.

"Um. If I tell you... will you tell me yours, and promise not to be mean?" Tavros asked, quietly.

"Mean, why the fuck would I be mean?"

"Well... I've. Been bullied about it. And.."

"Stop there." Gamzee said, lifting a finger and actually tapping it to Tavros' lips. "Lemme lay down a law right here motherfucker, more like a rule, but I ain't make fun of someone for who they choose to love. Or how. So don't you fear with me."

He seemed to be genuinely calmed by those words since the mild worry in Tavros' eyes faded a bit. "I'm... bisexual."

Well his fear made sense. He'd seen some awful mistreatment of bisexuals even in the queer community. Called breeders, told to pick a side, horrible shit. But at the same time Gamzee felt as though he was doing cartwheels because Tavros liked guys. He felt an attraction to men which meant he had a fifty percent chance of something happening and my God did he hope something would.

"And I'm gay." Gamzee returned the open honesty with a smile.

"And I'm straight." Aradia announced. "We make quite the group huh?" she smiled. "And we're all friends, right?" she asked, carefully.

"Well. I think we are."

Tavros smiled at hearing Gamzee say that, and nodded. "Yeah...! We all are."

"I think your friend Karkat wants more than friendship out of Equius, though."

Hearing this Gamzee turned his head, and easily spotted Karkat in the crowd. He was presently giving Equius' bicep a good squeeze since the tall man was... was he flexing for him? Why yes, yes he was. A grey painted body building nerd was flexing his muscles for Karkat to squeeze, who looked genuinely fascinated by how well maintained those muscles were.

He seemed to sense he was being watched, turned his head, spotted the trio, and immediately released his grip on Equius' arm and proceeded to walk away saying something. Surprisingly enough, Equius followed.

"...right. Well. Any way, you can come by the lake tomorrow 'round nine and we can spend the day doing our thing yeah?" Gamzee asked of Tavros, who was now back to his regular skin color. "I can tell you where exactly 'n everything."

Tavros smiled softly, and nodded his head. "Yeah. I think I'll enjoy that."

All Gamzee could do for the rest of the night was smile.


	9. The Parade Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day of the LGBTA Parade is finally here! Everyone is slowly coming together to celebrate, but Gamzee can't help but feel nerves about his and Tavros' hopeful meeting during.

"Equius!"

He groaned, shutting his eyes tighter as he pressed down into the bedding, hugging the body length pillow closer to his chest.

"Equius, come ON."

Then he felt hands, small but strong, grabbing at his shirt and tugging. He sighed, heavily, strongly, before he opened a heavy lidded eye and turned his head. Bleached blond strands of hair stuck in his eyes and the figure of the young woman standing beside his bed came into view.

"Mmf... what time is it...?" he asked groggily. He had been working at the shop until late the night previous, that party, and hadn't gotten in until one. It felt like he still had some grey paint on his skin. 

"Six!" the girl replied, hurrying across the room to pull open the blinds. "You're late!"

"Forgive me." Equius yawned as he got up, rubbing at one of his eyes and thus stretched.

Every morning, at five thirty, Equius Zahhak would awaken. He would put on his work out clothes, and do morning routine exercises with his younger sister Nepeta. 

That was who was currently pushing the window open to gaze out across the land that stretched out beyond them. The city landscape wasn't too far from them, being the type who lived half an hour outside the city. Their grounds were covered in trees, surrounded by a tall white brick fence, the house that they lived in fitted it considering it was two floors high and fairly big.

"Don't we have that parade today in the city?" Nepeta asked as she ran on the spot once Equius had made his way down the stairs.

"Hmf." he said, curtly, making his way into the kitchen to grab two bottles of water.

"You do!" she smiled, "Remember you promised you'd come with me, yes?"

He had no idea how she'd talked him into that. Well, that wasn't entirely true. He knew exactly how she'd talked him into it. She had simply asked, smiling at him with that scarred, cleft smile of hers, making her emerald green eyes shine brightly. Equius was wrapped around his sisters finger and it had been that way ever since his parents had adopted her.

Well, was it adopted, or fostered? Even now he wasn't entirely sure. But when he had been eight years old his parents had sat he and his twin brother Horuss down and told them that they were going to foster another child. That they would be older brothers. And a few months later they brought a five year old little girl with a cleft lip, soft blonde locks, and a fondness of all things feline into the Zahhak house.

Her obsession with cats persisted, even now she loved them and sprouted a black cat tattoo on her ankle. That cleft lip had been surgically fixed when she was a young woman, and though a scar still remained she still felt some embarrassment from it.

"I still don't know why I should come with you. You are old enough to manage at a parade by yourself." he said as they stepped out onto the grounds, tugging his small work out towel around his shoulders.

"Well it's fun! You could meet some new people to hang around with, riiiight?" Nepeta asked as she stretched her arms.

"I have no intention of hanging out with... those types of people." he said, stiffly.

"Equius!" she huffed, "You ARE those types of people! I'M those types of people, remember?" Nepeta asked.

He stiffened. "I am not."

"Need I remind you of your HUUUUUUUGE crush on that guy throughout high school? I've seen your internet history, buddy, and I don't see any searches for tits anywhere!"

Equius frowned at his sister, before beginning their work out.

"You've been talking non-stop about this guy you met at work, what was his name again, Kaaarrrrkat?" 

He knew what she was doing. She was leading him on. Trying to make him admit to something which he was not ready to admit to at all. He turned his head away.

"You even took a photo of you two together and shown it to me! He looks pretty cute, tiny too!" Nepeta hummed. "Maybe if you come with me today you'll run into him and get to talk a bit more, this time without paint all over your face!"

All he could do was grunt.

Which is exactly what Tavros was doing, but hardly because he was being annoyed by a younger sibling, but because he was being annoyed at himself. There he stood in his bedroom, staring at his choice of clothing and judging by the pile of clothes that was slowly smothering his bed to death he was not pleased by his choice.

"Ugghhh what am I doing." Tavros grumbled to himself as he tugged at his brown vest, and stared down at his plain black shirt. It felt so weird, wearing a shirt that didn't have some logo or catchphrase from a video game, cartoon, or movie. He felt insanely naked and exposed. But you don't rock up to this sort of event wearing that stuff, do you?

"Are you still trying to work out what to wear?" asked a voice from the door way, sounding oh so amused.

"No I actually take quite a lot of joy out of trying every single article of clothing I own on." Tavros said as he turned around, looking back at himself, making sure he looked presentable from the back before glancing towards the door, "Didn't you know that already?"

His little brother snorted from his place in the door way before he suddenly ran in, leaped, and landed in the pile of clothes acting more like a cat than a sixteen year old with red streaks dyed into his jet black hair. Rufioh laughed, rolling over the pile, pulling some clothes with him until he was more or less a clothing burrito on the bed. Tavros sighed heavily before approaching the mess of a bed, and his little brother, and reached into the pile and pulled out a hoodie.

"You're going to have to iron what you wrinkle in there."

"Most of it was already wrinkled any way." Rufioh's muffled voice answered. Then he climbed out of the mess, partly, and rolled over so he could look up at his brother who had replaced the vest with the hoodie. He scoffed, since the hoodie was blood red and designed with a fairly familiar looking pill printed on the back. Written around it was the words 'Good for Health. Bad for Education'. The poor mans leather cosplay jacket. "Yeah I wouldn't wear that."

"Ugh I can't do this!" Tavros lamented, throwing the jacket off and tossed it away with a grunt. "Why is it this hard?"

"Cuz you're making it hard, bro." was the simple answer from the teen who was now inspecting a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shirt with the words 'Party Rockin' accompanying the four colorful 'classic' turtle designs. "Plus your wardrobe sucks."

"Excuse you it does not suck." Tavros said, swiftly yanking said shirt out of his brothers hands, smoothing it out as if that would get the wrinkles out. "My wardrobe expresses who I am."

"A big fat nerd?"

"I'm not a nerd!"

"Oh come on bro you've had a table top campaign running since you were twelve. You're a huge nerd."

"I'm not the nerd with red streaks." Tavros replied smugly.

"Hey don't bring the hair into this! Mo-hawks aren't exactly the coolest hair style in the world either!"

Tavros heaved a heavy sigh before sitting down on his bed, well, a corner of it which was not smothered by clothing. He leaned forward and pressed his head into his hands and groaned. "I don't know if I can do this."

"It's only a parade," Rufioh sat up now, "It's not that big a deal is it?"

"I. I think it's a date?" Tavros asked quietly.

"You think it's a... what, really?" at this, the younger Nitram looked suddenly very curious. "I thought you were just catching up with some guys from work!"

"Uh. In a way I am but at the same time I don't think it's just 'catching up' either?" he turned his head from his hands to look back at his brother. "It's just. This guy I've been seeing practically every day asked me to join him and I think it's a date I mean..." 

Rufioh stared blankly at Tavros, and Tavros returned the blank stare. They sat in awkward silence before Rufioh gasped, audibly. "You LIKE him!"

"What?? N-no I don't!"

"You totally do!"

"No!"

"Oh man oh man this is so big this is huge!"

"It isn't huge!"

"Yeah it is! You haven't liked someone in so long this is like, finally getting over that hurdle you keep trying to jump on the race track or something!"

"You are awful at metaphors."

"And you're awful at accepting your feelings."

"Um excuse me," Tavros stood up abruptly, "I'M the older brother here. By ten years, may I remind you. I have far more experience with this sort of thing than you have!"

"How many partners have you had?" Rufioh asked.

"What?"

"You heard me bro," Rufioh grinned, "How many? Two? Three?"

Tavros frowned. "Just because you have a different girlfriend every other month does not mean you have more experience or knowledge in these things Rufioh."

Rufioh went quiet, before frowning, and folded his arms over his chest. "Yeah yeah."

"...thanks though, I guess." Tavros said as he pulled yet another shirt from his pile of clothing.

"For what?" Rufioh asked.

"For helping me put something into perspective I don't think I've realized before."

Rufioh wanted more clarification but suddenly Tavros was pulling his shirt off and he did not want to witness his brother changing so he untangled himself from the pile of clothes and stumbled from the room.

The city felt like it had been momentarily transformed today. Gamzee could smell it in the air, feel the electricity all around him, even with every step he took along the sidewalk told him that today was going to be mother fucking amazing. Karkat, walking along beside him, did not share this sentiment. He was never a fan of a lot of noise, or large crowds of people, but that was Karkat being Karkat. The fact he was still here though, was an even louder testament for him being himself because he was here for him beyond all else. 

Still Gamzee had to question what he'd done to deserve this kind of friendship from someone. No wonder whenever he got drunk he'd practically sob all over Karkat about how much he loved him.

"All right you got these all set then?" a, vaguely, familiar voice asked as they began to cross a side street. Karkat turned his head to spot the female cop who had been working with 'Officer Sollux', the one with the red hair. Seems for the parade was that big of a deal they were closing off streets entirely so it wasn't disrupted by traffic. Road signs showing 'detour' and 'road closed' was everywhere. The cop turned her head and spotted the two and, unlike most cops, she smiled at them. Did she remember them from the altercation with those drunk assholes? 

Karkat nodded at her while Gamzee waved. She waved in return, in doing so Karkat got a better view of the nameplate she wore which read 'Pyrope'. 

"Yeah yeah we're good," and there adjusting the road blocker was Officer Sollux; Aradia's gentleman friend. 

But Gamzee and Karkat kept going, seeing how they had their own thing to do which was first deliver this collection of cupcakes to Kurloz who was down on the river land where a huge stage had been set up for the concert which would be taking place once the parade was done. It wasn't too far a walk from the bakery which is exactly where Gamzee and Karkat had begun their journey.

"I can't believe you were going to make fifty." Karkat said as they crossed the last set of 'main' traffic lights and began to walk down past the entertainment center where huge shows were put on. Behind it, was the grasslands, with a pavilion and grasslands where families had picnics every other day. Today it was transformed, banners and streamers and an entrance gate as well as that big stage set up. It was all very professional, and already there were people milling around probably to find a good place to settle and reserve their seating for when the music began.

"Hey man it's cool, Kurloz wouldn't complain for more." Gamzee said as they gave a dollar donation at the gate, and made their way inside.

"Yeah she would, you know how fucking particular she is. It's all got to be right. Or she'll give you her patented Makara Glare that makes you feel like shit on her shoes."

"She ain't that bad--well that's not true she can be that bad." 

They rounded a clump of trees and there was an actual table set up. Kurloz must have gotten here early to do this, since it was already set up, a plastic rainbow tablecloth stapled to it so it wouldn't fly away. There was a big cooler as well, devoid of any ice or drinks yet (probably holding off getting those set up yet) and overseeing the whole thing wasn't Kurloz but someone else entirely.

Someone Karkat did not know, but someone Gamzee did.

"Aw man it's Cronus."

Oh man, The Cronus. The Cronus Gamzee had lamented to Karkat time and time again. The Cronus who had someone worked his way into Kurloz's life during college. The Cronus who continued to flirt with everyone around him. The Cronus who Gamzee felt was nowhere near good enough to even stand in his sister's shadow much less be in her life. It was The Cronus in the flesh and honestly Karkat didn't know how to act. Or react. He'd heard some pretty bad things but also good things, too, and he didn't look like a total sleaze ball like Gamzee had painted him as.

Well no he did look a little sleazy. His hair was black and slicked back with so much grease you'd have to wonder what car engine he'd dumped his head in. His rich olive skin was smooth and utterly flawless save for a scar above one of his eyebrows which, might I add, were perfectly shaped and styled. His clothing choices made him look like Danny Zuko was his life inspiration all the way down to his leather shoes.

Hell, he was even combing his hair.

Then he spotted them, and his lips pulled back in a huge grin and pushed himself off of the table and approached the two. "Ey if it ain't Gamz. You found the place all right then ah? No wonderin' off or anythin'?" he asked.

"Yeah I found it," Gamzee answered curtly as he set down the fifteen cupcakes down on the table, and Karkat did the same. They were in protective cardboard boxes, with clear wrap over them so you could see them. Of course they looked amazing.

"Damn Gam I ain't ever gonna get over how talented you are." he grinned, then he spotted Karkat, and leaned around Gamzee. "Oh whoa hello who's this now?"

"This is Karkat," and Karkat witnessed Gamzee putting himself between him and Cronus so quickly he swore he was part ninja. "The brother I all up and told you 'bout before."

"Oh so this is THE Karkat," Cronus smiled in a way that Karkat wasn't exactly pleased with.

"Wait you've talked about me?" Karkat asked, feeling mildly surprised. Why in the name of Hell would Gamzee talk to this guy about him? To anyone about him? What had he said, good things? Bad things? Wait, that was stupid. Why would Gamzee say a bad thing about him? Yeah that sounded a little self absorbed but really now...

"All kindsa good things, don't worry none." crooned the other, reaching behind Gamzee to touch his shoulder in a way that had Karkat take a step back.

"Ease off, Cronus." before Gamzee could say it, a smoother, silkier voice said it instead. Turning his head he saw who had voiced his inner thoughts and smiled. It was Kanaya and Rose. Thank God above.

And of course the two women looked sensational. Kanaya wore a short red skirt that came to a halt above her knees, and wore a nice black see-through top which showed off the sleek bra she wore beneath it. A nice soft green jacket hung off her shoulders and it came to a halt at her hips. 

As usual her hair was styled perfectly to match her make up which may well have been applied by a highly decorated make up artist. Considering her skin was a beautiful rich ebony meant she turned heads almost everywhere not only with her killer fashion choices, but the fact in the fashion world she was known as one of the youngest designers to get their fashions on the run way in both New York and New Deli.

Along with her was Rose, Kanaya's long time romantic partner. Her soft blond hair was held in place by a headband, a color and style normally suited to a child in grade school but she managed to pull it off flawlessly. She wore a nice summer style dress which billowed out around her slender legs, stopping below the knee, and wore a thick purple belt around her trim waist.

The contrast of the beautifully pale woman with the rich darkness of the other was not normally lost on everyone around them.

"Ey Kan, Rose, c'mon I wasn't doing anything!" Cronus smiled in greeting.

"You were doing enough." Rose said curtly.

"Thank God," Gamzee smiled at the two. "Was thinkin' I was gonna have to knock this guy back with a stick!"

"Oh jeeze guys come ON I'm not as bad as all that!" whined the man.

"Hello Gamzee," Kanaya decided to ignore the man, instead focusing on her assistant's brother. "I'm glad to see you made it. Though I am slightly curious about the food you've brought?"

"Kurloz's idea," Cronus interjected as he moved a hand tantalizingly close to pull up some wrap to get at a cupcake. Karkat smacked his hand away immediately.

"Ah!" she smiled, nodding her head. "Considering the event of the day it makes sense."

"Where is Kurloz?" Rose asked, looking around. It was hardly a gathering out of Kanaya's work without the dark haired woman. "Is she running late?"

"Had to go to the little lady's room if ya catch my drift." Cronus said, now rubbing his knuckles since Karkat had not gone lightly on the smacking whatsoever.

"Delightful." Kanaya rolled her eyes, before checking her watch. "Well if she wishes to watch this parade with the rest of us she better get herself here quick. Or we will be late."

Again Gamzee scanned the area, before pulling his phone out and looked at it. Last night he and Tavros had, rather nervously, swapped phone numbers with one another. It would make their meeting today easier if they could message one another and ask where the other is. So far, there were no messages at all. Gamzee argued mentally with himself about whether or not he should text to ask where he was. Was he still coming? Was he being stood up? Shit. He didn't know, and he fumbled with his phone even more.

That's when Karkat reached out, and placed his hand onto Gamzee's, and lowered his phone while the two women were busy talking with Cronus.

"Stop worrying. You'll give yourself an ulcer and I've already rushed your ass to hospital more times than I'd care to admit." Karkat muttered.

Gamzee gave a small, weak, but appreciative smile and nodded before slowly putting his phone back into his pocket. The day had barely begun. He had time to worry later, surely.


	10. The Parade Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The parade is here and Tavros finally manages to catch up with Gamzee and the group, before heading out to enjoy the start of the big event.

The only other time in his life in which Tavros had seen the city so lively as this was New Years Eve. Now that was a crazy time to be in the city, with all the bars and clubs throwing functions and private parties, people celebrating in the streets and on the grasslands it was an impressive show of just how many people lived in their town. Today it was bustling with people too, and he saw streets closed off, businesses working overtime to keep up with food demands and he had to wonder just how crazy the Miracle Pie House would be today. They were a side street away from the main parade route, after all.

He tugged his Captain America hoodie closer to him, unable to help but feel a little self conscious about the shirt he had finally decided upon. It had been a gag birthday gift the year before from Aradia, huge black lettering stretching across his chest which read in all caps 'Nobody knows I'm Bisexual'. At the time he had turned bright red and stammered his way through thanking her as she'd laughed before handing him his real gift, being Stone Dice made of Azurite which had turned into his lucky die set.

Yet the gag gift had remained and here he was, walking down main street wearing a shirt that all but advertised his sexuality. He couldn't help but feel a little nervous about it all, so he busied his hands by pushing them into his jeans pocket and continued along the route towards the river side where he had agreed to meet with Gamzee.

"Okay." he said to himself after a breath, "No big deal. Right? It's just uh. Just a date. Simple date of watching a parade and listening to music and all the good stuff in life yeah? Yes. Okay. Stop talking to yourself you probably look insane."

When he finally reached the river side he was again surprised by the turn out. There were already groups of people claiming spots on the grass with blankets and chairs as their own, preparing for the concert. The stage was all up now, electronics and wires in place and honestly it looked like a pretty good set-up.

That growing sense of ease suddenly froze in place and was taken over by a feeling of warmth suddenly upon spotting him.

There he was, impossible to miss with his handsome (did he really just think that) profile and curly purple hair. What was his natural hair colour? Black? Brown? He never thought of that before. But he was impossible to miss on account he had a shirt which looked like it had been sewn from a pride rainbow flag in its entirety. He had a canary yellow hoodie on, purple pants that came to his knees... wait were those the kind of pants that had zips on them so they could become shorts? Yet despite how it should clash horribly somehow it all came together in a big juxtaposition that helped represent Gamzee effortlessly.

Swallowing a growing lump in his throat Tavros steeled himself and... stood in the same place he'd been standing in for the past minute.

Where'd that self confidence gone? Felt like it had escaped from his body and flown away to join Peter Pan on the island of Neverland, never to return to him. But even without it, he couldn't just stand there gawking awkwardly at Gamzee from so far away. Even if watching him now felt far different than it had compared to last week. He'd seen this guy work almost every day for the past year and more and only now is he feeling that he's really watching him how he moves.

He's talking with some greaser guy. Who is that? Whoever he is he's now gripping Gamzee's chin and giving it a tweak, raising his brows as he does. Wait, is he flirting with him? Tavros' eyes widened when that realization hit and before he was fully aware he was walking across the grass, arms swinging, looking as if he was ready to give somebody a firm talking to by gum!

"And you'll be all kinds of surprised." Cronus grinned as Gamzee pushed his hand away from him.

"Man quit touchin' my face that shit be weird as fuck." he grumbled.

"Uh, excuse me."

Gamzee turned upon hearing that voice and his whole expression shifted from annoyance to something akin to a child learning Santa Claus is indeed real and he's brought every toy you ever wanted in the world. "Tav! Ah, Tavros! Hey!"

Upon seeing that face Tavros felt what anger he felt hiss out of him like air let out of a poked balloon. Thankfully without the comedic sound effect. "Hey, Gamzee. Sorry uh, sorry I'm a bit late.."

"Late? Pshaw," Gamzee snorted as he turned away from Cronus who was now eyeing Tavros critically. "You're late? I hadn't motherfucking noticed."

Karkat had to contain the urge to snort incredibly loudly.

Gamzee's hand found Tavros' shoulder and he gestured to the people gathered. "But here lemme introduce you man you don't know everyone here I mean you know Karkat," he gestured with his other hand to Karkat.

"Hey." he greeted, taking a sip of a drink.

"Hi, Karkat." Tavros smiled faintly. Grumpy as Karkat came across to him it was kind of nice to see him here. For Gamzee, maybe? How close were these two.

"But this piece of shit is my sister's boyfriend Cronus." Gamzee introduced, gesturing to the greaser who was trying to steal another cupcake with rainbows on it.

"Hey least I'm a presentable piece of shit. A piece of shit with a future and a good paycheck." retorted Cronus before, again, his attempts at stealing a piece of baked goods was hindered this time by Kanaya smacking his hand away. "Ow."

"This here be Kanaya, 'n her best good lady girlfriend Rose. Kanaya's my sis' boss." Gamzee went onto explain as he introduced Tavros to the fashionably fine looking ladies.

"Hello, nice to meet you." Tavros smiled awkwardly because, well, they were very beautiful women the type you'd see in magazines about high end fashion.

"Pleasure is all mine." Kanaya smiled, "Gamzee has spoken nothing but good things about you."

That made Tavros' ears feel like they were on fire, and surely his cheeks caught fire too on account of how they were burning too. He smiled as widely as he could. "Oh? Uh, that.."

"Kanaya." Gamzee hissed.

She smiled and laughed, "What? I speak the truth."

"Ya just don't go and blab that!"

While Gamzee and Kanaya were discussing what was right, and wrong, to discuss in front of ones potential date for the whole day Tavros felt a hand gently touch his shoulder. He turned to come face to face with someone who looked a little familiar yet not at all familiar. Similar facial structure to Gamzee, yes, but entirely different at the same time. Softer? Hard to describe.

"It's wonderful to finally meet you. My brother has indeed spoken highly of you ever since he began seeing you on a more regular basis." the person took Tavros hand into theirs, their palms were soft to touch yet strong. "I am Kurloz, Gamzee's older sister."

Oh well that explained everything.

"O-oh!" Tavros gripped her hand a little, smiling in return. Wow what he thought was going to be a simple catching up with Gamzee was turning into a 'meet the family' kind of thing wasn't it? Maybe he should have worn something a little more suiting instead of what he now had on. Especially considering he was meeting three women who looked as though they could slay him in a few words. "Nice to meet you!" he flustered.

"Kurloz are you makin' Tavros all uncomfortable." Gamzee's voice came from over Tavros' shoulder.

"Of course not." Kurloz gave a thin smile, giving Tavros' hand a firmer squeeze. "Just exchanging pleasantries. Is that so wrong?"

"No." Gamzee said in a way that made it should as though exchanging pleasantries was the most wrong thing in the world but was too polite to say it out loud.

"I best let you go less my brother curse me." she laughed as she let go of him, and made her way over to Cronus to smack at his hand which again had been reaching for a baked good that wasn't his to take. "No. Not yet."

"Oh come on let a man eat something sweet already!" Cronus lamented dramatically before looping both arms around Kurloz, drawing her in and whispering something that was probably highly inappropriate into her ear. Kurloz's eyes rolled in a way that showed they did it a lot, but she returned his embrace either way.

"Later." she mumbled.

"This is uh, quite a set up you have here. All fancy with a table and all." Tavros commented as Gamzee stood besides him. "Are you expecting a few people?"

"That's the idea." Cronus explained, "Seein' how I'm a performer on stage 'n all I got my crew swinging by and then we got them losers friends showing up too," 'them losers' he meant Gamzee and Karkat most likely since he'd never refer to Kanaya and Rose in such a way. "so we're gonna be havin' our own little mash up of cats 'n dogs while the rest of the town all celebrate that is great."

"Oh!" Tavros smiled, before glancing to Karkat who was sipping his drink again. "I uh, also wanted to let you know Equius may be stopping by later. His sister Nepeta texted me, saying she's going to be here for sure but she's going to try and 'drag his sorry butt' here too."

"That's great." Karkat said indifferently, looking away while what could be believed to be a small smile crossed his face as he took another drink.

"Any way!" Gamzee said, maybe louder than he intended, "We should probably get a move on the parade's gonna be startin' and I don't wanna be missing it."

"Have fun." Karkat waved.

"Y'all ain't coming?"

"Large crowds, pushing, shoving, flag waving, cheering, no thanks." Karkat shook his head. "I'll stick 'round here."

"You just wanna be here if 'n when Equius gets here." grinned Gamzee.

"Just fuck off already isn't it meant to be a day for you and Captain America there? Go on!" he waved his hands at Gamzee in an aggressive show of 'you're probably right but fuck off'.

Gamzee could only laugh as he hurried away before Karkat could throw anything at him, and Tavros hurried after him. Tavros glanced behind him as the huffy, short Karkat was approached by the tall and fashionable Kanaya who said something, and he appeared to turn even redder than before. He wondered how long Karkat would even be able to put up with all those people, he certainly never came across as a people person.

But all thoughts of Karkat vanished from his mind when he felt Gamzee's hand suddenly grip one of his. He looked down at their hands, the pale long fingers of Gamzee's contrasting against his brown, thicker fingers. "C'mon man we gotta get our asses moving!" Gamzee insisted, giving his hand a pull, and Tavros indeed did begin to run to keep up with Gamzee's long strides.

Now, Tavros had been working out for quite a while now. His body and diet had shifted dramatically and he was far healthier now than he had been for a majority of his life. He had been the chubby boy in school, the average but pudgy guy in college, but now thanks to Equius he had cleaned his act up a lot. So he could run, very well in fact, yet despite all this he felt his heart racing at a pace it hadn't done so for years as he ran along the street hand in hand with the baker whose hair looked like cotton candy. His face felt hot, he was pretty sure his palms were sweaty too (poor Gamzee), and yet the smile etched onto his face was unflinching.

He hadn't felt anything like this in years.

Been too afraid to.

But he pushed such thoughts out of his head, he didn't need or want the past clouding his present experiences, he didn't want to dampen the mood in any way whatsoever so he held Gamzee's hand tighter still even if their run was now slowing to a light jog through the thickening crowds of people.

The people were massive crowds, and when the parade officially begun it felt like confetti was raining down from up on high, constantly. Tavros and Gamzee had found a nice place just round the corner from where Miracle Pie House was located, and considering how many people he had spotted holding the rainbow coloured cake slices he'd made especially for the parade told Gamzee how well the place must have done today.

Then he felt Tavros' hand squeeze his and all thoughts of his bakery went flying out of his head. He hadn't let go, had he? He'd forgotten to, and yet Tavros hadn't let go of his hand either in retrospect.

For a moment he glanced at Tavros, maybe hoping to see him looking at him but no Tavros was too busy watching the parade that was now making its way down the main street. Not that he could blame him, it really was an impressive display of solidarity of the varying sexual genders humans could take on. There were even some floats, shockingly enough, and the sight of a drag queen on a float tossing beaded necklaces to the crowd was not one you saw every day.

Tavros laughed and he reached up with a hand, and actually caught one, much to his surprise since he hadn't anticipated that at all. "Hah! Oh wow!"

"Holy shit you're lucky." Gamzee grinned, moving closer, admiring the beaded necklace. It was bright purple, and that made him smile even wider because as few knew, purple was the greatest colour ever created. Or discovered. One or the other, he wasn't a colour expert now was he?

"Mm," Tavros nodded before offering the necklace to him. "Do you, uh. Do you want it?"

Gamzee blinked. "Whaaat? No way man that's yours you caught that from my lovely crossdresser, not me!" though he was insanely flattered by the offer.

"You sure? I mean ah-"

"I'm sure man you wear it you'll look better in it than me."

Tavros felt a blush tickle at his ear tips at that compliment and awkwardly mumbled 'okay' before he looped it over his neck.

"Aw hell yeah look at you," the baker grinned toothily. "Now you lookin' super stylish."

"Oh yes?" Tavros asked, raising a brow.

"Well uh, ain't saying you weren't looking super stylish before but now it's like a mother fucking gold star atop it all."

The two wound up laughing over the whole thing, as the parade and streamers continued to happen around them. For just a moment it felt as though there wasn't anything else of importance happening, just the two of them, and the sparkly purple beaded necklace that now hung around Tavros' neck. Gamzee was the first to slowly ease out of the laughter bubble, giving his head a shake.

Was this how it was meant to feel? He'd never been on a date before, never had a boyfriend in his life but not through lack of wanting one. Life had just gotten in his way. A life of addiction and recovery mixed with the later life of a business owner and manager mixed with a baker he hadn't had the time or opportunity to find someone. Even if he'd wanted to. He hadn't even dared to dream of liking someone several years ago when his life was in shambles.

And then along came Tavros. Who came wandering into his store one day and had been coming back practically every day since. He'd just felt drawn to him with those deep brown eyes, the kind of laugh that infected you and made you want to laugh as well, large warm hands, and the presence of somebody who felt as though they could hurt but never would through choice.

Now here Gamzee stood at a pride parade, waving at John Egbert who he just spotted in the parade itself, standing alongside the man who he had been literally crushing on like a school girl. Funny where life took you, wasn't it.

"Come on! We gotta keep up!" Tavros, seemingly caught up with the crowd and the atmosphere, yanked at Gamzee's hand as he began to move through the crowd.

Gamzee uttered something like a honk, and a laugh, as he fell into step behind him trying to desperately keep up. He had never seen Tavros so excited before, his eyes were almost literally glinting with the joy and happiness of the moment. It made his face feel warm, and he could only smile back as he kept up with him through the crowds, excusing himself as he pushed past people and did his best to avoid stepping on peoples toes.

It felt like everything had been build up to this moment. Watching a parade, running along with Tavros, holding his hand hotly in his own, even the music in the air mixed with the cheering. He moved in close suddenly, bumped by a fellow excited parade watcher and wound up right up against his chest and oh my god Tavros was firm. Gamzee had never really imagined what the touch of Tavros' body may feel like, yes he'd imagined _some things_ but never what the warmth of those muscles and firmness of his body would feel like when being pushed up against but oh hello now here he was practically with his face in his chest.

Not the worst place in the world to be, but still not where he belonged. This was an intrusion on body space, yes? Yes. Pull back, Gamzee. Pull back and apologize.

"Hah, you okay?" Tavros asked as Gamzee disentangled himself from himself.

"Felt like I ran smack bang into a wall man, what kinda shit you eat??" Gamzee asked far louder than he should have, face bright red beneath his dyed hair.

"Suitably healthy diet to match my workout regime." he laughed weakly, reaching out and patted Gamzee's shoulder. "Sorry about that."

Gamzee mumbled something along the lines of 'forget about it' and Tavros nodded, laughing a little as he tugged at his shirt. Even if it had been abrupt and over in seconds having Gamzee suddenly right up against him like that it hadn't been essentially a bad feeling. Sure they were being squeezed in on by the crowds and the shouting and music and general loudness of it all may be a dampener somewhat, it had still felt... nice.

This was the kind of nice he hadn't allowed himself in what felt like forever.

His hand found Gamzee's again, having been dislodged during the shoving and pushing, and gave it a small, reaffirming squeeze and he couldn't help hide the smile from his face when Gamzee's hand squeezed back.


	11. Sins of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gamzee receives a not so pleasant visit from a ghost of his past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have some lovely art by the super talented [Idefix](http://ldefix.tumblr.com) to grace us with in this chapter!

The feeling of the cool grass underneath them was a pleasant contrast to the stifling heat of the crowds which had led them through the city streets. Overhead, the skies were a beautiful clear blue colour which felt as though you could jump up into it and swim in a way that you could with the ocean itself. All around them were people but far more thinly spread out compared to the cramped parade route. There were picnic blankets, flags of any and all colours set up, groups of people talking and laughing, sharing drinks and food from the stalls that had been set up through the riverbank.

From here, Tavros could see the table that Gamzee’s friends and family had set up. He could see most of those who had been there before, and oh… yes, there was Karkat. He was standing at one end of the table and my my, on the far end of the table was Equius. He was standing with Nepeta, a lovely lady who Tavros had met only a few times when she came down into The Minotaur to check on her big stupid brother. She was standing hand in hand with another lady, one that Tavros had only seen a few times and that was when she was on the beat.

"People watching?" Gamzee’s voice pulled Tavros’ gaze from Officer Terezi and Nepeta and turned his head to see Gamzee had returned victorious with two bottles of drink.

"Just keeping an eye on Karkat for you." Tavros smiled faintly, pointing in the general direction of the table. "Looks like Equius showed up, too! Though I can only imagine how he’s feeling."

"Oh?" the baker sat, offering Tavros the water he’d gotten him. Sure, Tavros got the water, but Gamzee got the Faygo. Just how did Gamzee remain so slender and healthy looking when he only seemed to drink sugary sweet water? A mystery worthy of a TV special.

"Yeah, Equius he um. He’s not that comfortable in himself I guess is the best way to say it." he fiddled with the lid of the bottle. "Sure he looks confident and strong which he can be but matters of uh… this parade’s meaning… makes him a little shifty. I guess."

"Brother don’t like the gay community?" Gamzee asked, arching a brow curiously.

"Not like that!" Tavros spluttered, waving a hand. "It’s just his-his parents brought him up to not really care for people like uh. You. Or Kanaya. Or your sister. But he himself is kind of a little like, uhh… you…"

Gamzee blinked a few time before whistling low and long. “Shit man that’s gotta be like a kick to the dick every time you get a liking for a brother.” he said, eloquently, before taking a sip of his drink. But he then almost spat it back up again, since he’d been watching the table too and saw Karkat make his way around the table to approach Equius, Nepeta, and the officer lady who’d come to his bakery when those assholes had been hassling Calliope.

"Gamzee!" Tavros gasped, witnessing your date almost choke on a drink was a bit of a shock.

"Sorry man, sorry. Hah. Honk. Wrong pipe." he lied, doing his best to not try and stare through the crowd to see what Karkat was doing. Shit, why didn’t he ever learn how to lip read? Karkat, his best friend in the history of the world and saver of his life, was attempting to what. Flirt? With a closeted possible homophobic homosexual. That wouldn’t end well.

"Take smaller sips next time." Tavros chastsized gently.

"Yes Dad."

That earned a laugh out of the both of them.

They were doing that a lot. Just laughing together, lost in the moment of laughter and mirth and being close to one another. Overall it had been a wonderful day so far, the parade had been an absolute joy and sure there were some protesters there with their signs of ‘Homosexuality is Sin’ and all that sort of shit but for the most part nobody paid them any heed. Giving them attention and reason to throw their hypothetical rocks would have brought a whole downer on the parade.

Thankfully, they had not followed the parade as it had left the city. Hate must be very lazy.

Gamzee set his bottle down on the grass and stretched his arms up above him. A fleeting idea shot through his brain. What if he just… looped his arm around Tavros’ shoulders as he ended the stretch? Would Tavros let him? Would he laugh and lean into him, or would he pull back and ask what was going on? No, he wouldn’t do that. They’d been holding hands all morning, walking with one another, talking and watching the parade and just enjoying the whole time together.

His arm lowered, but just as it was about to make contact he heard a voice which made his blood run cold.

"Makara!"

The speed behind Gamzee’s head snapping around was a serious threat of possible whiplash. His eyes moved, looking up, and he saw the last person he wanted to see. Ever.

Tavros turned his head too, and looked up at the young woman who was standing there besides them. She was very beautiful, in a bookish kind of way? Red glasses, long black hair, and a slightly revealing blue dress and a small black leather jacket over her shoulders. Her painted blue lips pulled back to reveal a smile, her eyes locked on Gamzee and nobody else.

"Wow, I haven’t seen you in years!" she gushed, kneeling down on the grass besides them, seemingly oblivious to the daggers laced in fear that Gamzee was giving her. "Hrm, how long ago, several or more at least!"

"Get the fuck out of here." Gamzee said, immediately.

"Tch is that any way to talk to your ex-supp—"

"I said." he leaned closer to her, a hand reaching down to grip at the grass. "Get the fuck out of here. I don’t wanna know you again. Last time I got to know you, you fucked my life up."

"I did no such thing." the mysterious lady replied, folding her arms. "You wanted it, I gave it to you. Not my fault you got in as deep as you did." she grinned though, and offered a wink. "You gave me what I needed in return so nobody got hurt now did they?"

"Nobody got hurt?" Gamzee asked, voice turning cold as the north wind. "Nobody got. Nobody got hurt?" voice raising, he moved as if he was about to suddenly tackle the woman but Tavros’ hands found his arms and pulled him back. "You know what happened to me you know and you come to tell me nobody got—"

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

Suddenly, Karkat was there. How he knew to come here Tavros had no clue. Had he heard Gamzee’s voice? Had he been able to see them as clearly as they’d seen him? Whatever the reason he had abandoned the table and was now here like an angry storm contained within the short body.

"I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU’RE PULLING BUT GET YOUR TOXIC SHIT OUT OF HERE!"

It seemed as though Karkat didn’t care that they were in the middle of a huge crowd of people, that music was still playing over it all, none of it seemed to matter. He had put himself right smack bang between the woman, who was now getting to her feet, and Gamzee who was still being held back by Tavros.

"Whoa easy there, you’ll burst a blood vessel!" she gasped, fake worry, pushing a hand to her bosom. "But who’re you to talk to me like that, shorty?"

"I’M THE GUY WHO’S GONNA SHOVE HIS FOOT SO FAR UP YOUR ASS YOU’LL BE TASTING LACES IF YOU DON’T GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HERE SPIDER BITCH!"

This was horrible. This was absolutely horrible. The emotions were suddenly black, spiky, anger and regret mixed with fear and Gamzee felt as though he could throw up through all the anxiety suddenly swarming through him. He allowed Tavros to pull him further away from Karkat and the woman, and it was good idea he did because Equius and Kurloz was suddenly rushing over as well. He couldn’t make out what Equius was saying, but he did see Kurloz actually strike up and slap her hand right across the woman’s face.

"You. Leave. NOW." Kurloz warned as the woman held her slapped face, eyes wide, seemingly nobody else had ever touched her like that before.

The woman was weighing her options; there was a crowd now. A very watchful, curious crowd. Her ex-customer’s family was here, and they obviously knew what had gone down. She glared at Kurloz, eyes glancing to Gamzee but moved when she almost sensed the woman moving for her again. “Don’t touch me!” she screeched, “You He-She THING.” she spat.

Whatever happened next Gamzee had no real clue, considering Tavros had turned him away. It involved a lot of yelling and swearing but when he dare to glance back the woman with the glasses was gone and Karkat was bending down in front of him, grabbing at him. Equius was looking completely lost while Kanaya and Rose was how rushing over to Kurloz, attempting to calm her since he’d never seen Kurloz so angry.

"Are you all right?" Karkat asked, "What did she want?"

"I don’t. I don’t know, she just. Sat down and.. talked like nothing happened."

"She said something about nobody getting hurt?" Tavros offered, what he hoped to be helpfully, and Karkat shot him a glare that made it feel like he’d been shot in the chest.

"Nobody getting hurt?" Karkat echoed, looking back to Gamzee. "It’s fine. Gamzee, she’s gone. Kurloz saw her off. She’d have to be the most idiotic bitch in the whole country if she tries to come back to talk to you today. Look. We can go. We’ll get you home, make you something hot to drink. Okay? Get you out of here before—"

"I’m fine." Gamzee interrupted quickly, while not looking too fine at all. Too many eyes. Too many ears. His heart felt like it was going to explode.

"Are you?" Kurloz asked, standing behind Karkat now. "It’s not every day the woman who single handedly destroyed you shows up again."

"I said I’m FINE.” he snapped back, showing he clearly wasn’t even more so than before. “I’m not running home and hiding in my bed just cuz the bitch said five words to me!”

Tavros had never felt so lost in all his life. He’d let Gamzee go, by now, who was now being tended to by both Karkat and Kurloz as he sat there feeling so very confused.

"…just what happened here?" the familiar voice of Equius, and his shared confusion, brought some comfort to Tavros.

"I have no idea." Tavros answered shakily.

Gamzee’s head turned, Karkat and Kurloz now talking together, and looked at Tavros. While he’d looked tired and in shock first, now he suddenly looked ashamed. Fear laced through his eyes, and his chest rose and fell quicker than before. No. Tavros wasn’t supposed to know. He was never supposed to find out least of all like this how do you explain this away? He couldn’t just call Aranea his ex because she wasn’t. They’d never been together. She was a supplier. The go to gal for the drugs which had slowly and surely stripped Gamzee’s livelihood away piece by piece.

He reached out, hands shaking, and took one of Tavros’ own into it. “Let’s. Let’s go. Get some air. Put ourselves between this nasty moment and just be getting a move on yeah?” he asked, shakily.

"I don’t, uh. I don’t know is that really okay…?" he asked, glancing quickly to Karkat and Kurloz, as if asking permission.

"Yes. Yes it’s okay." Gamzee insisted as he got to his feet rapidly, tugging at Tavros’ hand, trying to get him to stand. It was like watching a goat trying to move a mountain. "Please. Tavbro please."

"Go on." Kurloz said suddenly, giving the mountain permission to move like a great and powerful earthquake. "He needs to clear his head. And Tavros," she added as Tavros finally got to his feet. "Do not hate him for it."

"Huh?"

She was gone, moving through the crowd with Kanaya and Rose. Confused, still, he looked to Karkat who was watching him as carefully as a film critic watched a new art house movie.

"I don’t… I don’t understand."

"Gamzee will tell you if he’s ready to." was all Karkat said before he moved, grabbing Equius’ arm, and somehow magically dragged the taller, stronger man away as if it were nothing. Sheer strength of will seemed to outweigh strength of muscle.

The walk through the crowds was quiet and not at all a comfortable silence either. Gamzee’s arms were crossed over himself, putting up a protective barrier between him and the rest of the world, hands grasping at his arms. Tavros walked in silence alongside him, eyes on Gamzee, watching his face. He looked scared, above all else. Terrified, even. Of what? That woman? What had happened? Him?

"Gamzee…" Tavros started, and he felt a pang of pain in his heart when Gamzee flinched at the sound of his voice. "You don’t, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to…"

Gamzee stopped walking abruptly, eyes shutting tightly as he did. He unfolded one arm and pushed his face into his palm as his shoulders began to shake. Was he crying? Tavros moved immediately, wrapping his arms around Gamzee, pulling him against him in an embrace. “Gamzee no, no shh… it’s fine… it, I… I’m here. I’m here it’s going to be okay..”

He felt Gamzee stiffen in his grasp but suddenly his arms were wrapping around him tightly, hiding his face into his neck.

This was by far the most intense first date Tavros had ever had in his whole entire life. Never had this sort of thing happened before to him. Gamzee’s confidence had seemingly shattered, the comfortable feeling between them lost but just lingering in the shadows. But he wasn’t about to run, to abandon him like that. Some guys probably would, at the first sign of drama, but Tavros was not like most guys. At least he hoped he wasn’t.

"C… come on, let’s uh. Let’s walk a little more…"

Gamzee nodded, and soon the two were walking along the riverbank itself as the music continued to play as they began to leave the concert behind. They passed some swans, and ducks, all who had moved down the river to avoid the large crowds of people who yes held the high chance of having treats to eat but the loud music was too scary for them to risk the crowds. Tavros and Gamzee finally stopped, sitting on some grass beneath the shade of a huge tree that looked as though it had been here since forever.

Tavros wasn’t sure what to do. Should he ask what all that was about? Would leaving Gamzee to talk first be better? He had no idea and being lost was not a nice feeling to have on a date.

"I was into drugs." Gamzee said, abruptly.

"Wha.." Tavros answered, sucker punched by the statement.

"I was sixteen ‘n I was mad at the world. Mad at my dad for leaving. Mad at Kurloz for becomin’ my guardian. I was just so stupid and angry and Aranea was a girl at school who got connections. She started me on the small stuff but by schools end I was a fucking junkie shooting my arms up." he tucked his knees to his chest, arms wrapping around his legs. "It got super fucking bad, Tavros. I was hocking shit for money. And when I ran out I loaned cash from a guy I should never have talked to but when I couldn’t pay him, he had his goons shoot me."

"Shoot you—"

"Shot me point blank in my fucking gut. Like a stupid animal. Which I was." Gamzee added, moving a hand to rub it against his stomach where the bullet wound had long since healed but left a horrible scar. "I crawled to Karkat and he got me to hospital and I was in there for months. Recovering from the bullet. The dehydration. The drugs. It was a wake up call, though… I never touched a drug or drink again. I started cleaning myself up, see… Got myself into night school with business and took a loan opened my own bakery. Took on customers and that was it."

Gamzee pushed his hands up through his hair before looking to Tavros. “…if you don’t wanna know me now I’ll understand.”

"…why wouldn’t I… want to know you?" Tavros asked, quietly.

"Most folks don’t like hanging around with ex-junkies. They tend to think less of us, for being so low." Gamzee explained, quietly, looking away as he spoke. "I just. I’d. I’ll understand." he’d hate it, he’d cry, but he would accept it if clean living Tavros didn’t want to see him again.

Tavros didn’t know what to think at first. To know Gamzee, his Gamzee, who was so friendly and open and loving to everyone around him had been through such a horrible time was a shock. Normally it would leave someone a little jaded, wouldn’t it? But there was Gamzee, quick to laugh, fast to befriend, easy to talk to and spend time with… all while carrying a life that could make for a made for TV drama movie. Acting as if nothing was wrong, had ever been wrong.

He stared ahead at the lazy river, forever moving, reaching out towards the ocean that was well over five hours away.

"Gamzee," Tavros started slowly, "I don’t… not want to know you."

"Huh?"

"Yeah I don’t think that is right either." he frowned, unsure of his own wording. "But uh. What I’m saying is I still want to know you."

"…you do…?"

"Hmm!" Tavros nodded his head eagerly. "I mean, I uh… I like you, Gamzee. I really, really like you." he could feel the blush working its way up his ears. "You’re really nice, you’re funny too. You have a great personality, always willing to help people out and let me tell you, you are by far one of the greatest bakers I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. You can be silly, you can be serious, but over all you are a really good person and I’m glad that I got to know you more than just the guy behind the counter at the bakery."

Gamzee felt like he could melt, dribble into the river, and float out to sea and that would be perfectly okay because Tavros had just said all that of him. He subconsciously rubbed at his right arm. “Even… even though I messed up like that…?”

"Gamzee," he moved closer suddenly, and pressed his hand to Gamzee’s back. "My dad told me that uh, that life is made of mistakes. People mess up. We make the wrong choices. But it shows a strong sense of character if you can admit to those mistakes, and learn from them. And you… you changed your whole life around! You make a bakery, you employ good people, and I know you give to charities as well. You have learned and grown and I think that is very admirable!"

"I’m gonna die from blushing here, brother. Y’all gonna be charged with manslaughter." Gamzee laughed a little, pushing a hand through his hair.

"Aw no please," Tavros grinned, "I would be no good in prison I would be everybody’s bitch in a day."

"Oh, really? I would have pegged you as a bear myself."

"Bear?? Oh come on, surely not…"

They laughed again, a small, private and comfortable thing which ended with the two resting their temples against one anothers. When had Tavros’ arms wrapped around him? Gamzee didn’t know. But there they were, strong, capable, reliable and while they seemed to tingle with a sense of strength they also felt as though they could never hurt anyone. Tavros wasn’t that type of guy, was he? He certainly didn’t feel like it.

"Gamzee?"

"Hmm…?" he answered, as if he were waking from the most miraculous dream imaginable.

"Is it, uh. Is it okay if I… if… I just really want to. Um. K-kiss you but if you do not want me to I understand completely I mean that is pretty forward and you just had a really bad emotional moment and I do not want you to think I am taking advantage of you because I am not I just… I. I want to? Is. Is that bad?"

He wasn’t sure if he’d absorbed all of that at all. He stared at Tavros blankly for a moment before he snorted, and brought a hand up to allow himself a moment to run his fingers down the others strong, firm jaw. “It ain’t bad, bro… if you want to kiss me, then I ain’t gonna be saying no. Cuz truthfully, man, I want to kiss you too.”

"Oh! Oh, uh. Good! That’s great! Yes, that is. That is wonderful. So we are both agreeing to the uh, the prospect of kissing. Yes?"

"Hell yes." Gamzee nodded.

"Good." Tavros agreed, giving a nod.

They sat there, somewhat awkwardly, for a moment or two longer before they finally shifted closer. Tavros could feel some nerves spiking in his stomach, his heart racing, and his head feeling dizzy. Holy shit, pull yourself together, you haven’t even kissed yet and it’s not like this is the first time you’ve kissed a guy but it’s your first kiss with Gamzee and that was a pretty big deal wasn’t it? Yes, it was a very big deal, incredibly big! But all of the frets and worries and feelings of fear slowly eased when he felt the slightly chapped, cool, lips of Gamzee Makara’s press to his own lips.

There was music.

Of course there was music, the band playing on the stage all the way back at the concert was still playing and would be playing for the remainder of the night.

Yes, they were playing to a concert of hundreds but as far as Gamzee Makara and Tavros Nitram were concerned the music was just for them.


	12. Proposal and Tragedy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The date is going very well wouldn't you say? But after a public proposal words are exchanged and by the end of the day somebody is needing urgent medical care.

"He has led quite the life, hasn't he?"

"That is a mild way of saying it." Karkat muttered as he sat slumped on the grass, Equius having settled himself besides him. Having to explain your best friends reasons behind reacting so violently to that woman wasn't exactly the greatest moment of Karkat's life. After all, it was Gamzee's life story but you couldn't just brush off something like that as if it were nothing.

"Is that why he has done all that to his skin?" Equius asked, referring to the colourful designs tattooed along his arms.

"Hm." he glanced down at the grass. "Hides the scars and needle marks. Plus he was told by his rehab group that sometimes tattoos help the healing process. Turn something ugly into something beautiful. While I don't buy into a lot of what they do I could see their reasoning for that I mean shit, would you want to look at your forearms and see ugly needle marks for the rest of your life as a constant reminder to how royally you fucked up your life?"

Equius made a small noise in agreement, and glanced over his shoulder. There was music still playing, this time by that guy--what was his name? Cronus? Something like that. But he was on stage now with his group playing a song about two guys in love, in fact a lot of the music that had been played was about romance and varying identities. Fairly expected given the... people all around him.

Including his sister, who was laughing as she danced with her girlfriend of the past year and a half. He never would have guessed a police woman would be interested in his sister and while a bit of him did not approve, some greater part of him was glad Nepeta was with someone who was so well established.

Terezi caught him watching them and she grinned toothily and raised her hand, giving him a wave. Equius nodded to her before looking back to Karkat who was leaning his head back now, eyes shut. He took in his profile in silence before looking at his feet.

"One shouldn't let their mistakes define them." he observed, quietly.

"Too fucking right. Spend too much time looking back you'll be tripping over your own stupid feet and miss out on what's in front of you." Karkat agreed.

"How spiritual of you." Equius commented, giving a small grin.

"I'm a regular Buddha. So, tell me." Karkat turned, looking straight on at Equius. "How'd a big fella like you end up working in a freaking comic book store? You don't exactly fit the geek type."

The taller man scoffed. "Come now aren't we all here to fight stereotypes?"

"I guess."

"I have my reasons."

"Mister Mysterious aren't you?" asked Karkat, giving a very small grin.

Equius, again, scoffed. "I suppose."

"Excuse me everybody! Hey hey!" the music on stage had come to an end to a round of applause and cheering of the crowd, but now the singer was calling for even more attention it seemed. It wasn't just any singer, though, it was still that Cronus person. Equius, and Karkat, turned their heads to look towards the stage where Cronus was walking along it, trailing the microphone chord behind him so he wouldn't trip over himself.

How embarrassing that would be.

"You know this is just the best day for everyone ain't it? We all havin' a good time out there?" he asked, to which he got his answer in the form of more cheering, and a few shouts in agreement that yes indeed it's a great day.

"Hah! That's great, that's amazin'," he smiled. "cuz lemme tell you boys and girls and everythin' wonderful in between we gonna be making this day about a thousand times more great for one special person among you."

"What the hell is he talking about?" Karkat asked, to which Equius shrugged since he barely knew this man so how would he know? He'd already made him feel slightly uncomfortable due to his lack of respect in regards to personal space.

"I'd like to introduce you all to somebody very, very, near and dear to me. Babe, come on. Up here, you know you wanna be showing all these fine folk how gorgeous you are!" Cronus called, approaching the stairs that led up to the stage.

Suddenly there was Kurloz, reaching up as Cronus took her hand to help her up onto the stage. Soon as he could he wrapped his arm around her, pressing a kiss to her jaw before returning the microphone to his lips. "This here's my beautiful girlfriend. Kurloz Makara's been a huge, and I mean huge, part of my life for years." he looked at her, now, smile widening. "She's been through Hell 'n back and somehow she managed to drag this stupid little demon outta Hell with her and I got to admit I've gotten awfully fond of her."

"What the mother fuck is that mother fucker doing?"

The return of Gamzees voice had Karkat turn his head quickly, looking up at him. He was standing there, hand grasping at Tavros', looking alarmed beyond belief. Even more so than seeing Aranea. Tavors just looked awed, as if something amazing had either happened, or was about to happen.

The crowd was suddenly gasping and clapping, when Karkat looked back to the stage he saw Cronus on one knee, holding a ring in a box up to Kurloz. He watched, wide eyed, as Kurloz nodded rapidly to which Cronus' answer was standing up swiftly and lifting Kurloz off of the floor entirely. They spun once, arms around one another, as the band started clapping and cheering as did a vast majority of the crowd. Karkat was fairly sure he overheard some murmurs, none of which were positive.

"Holy shit." Karkat whispered.

"That FUCKER." Gamzee spat, and if it weren't for Tavros' hand holding his own he may well have barged forward onto the stage. "How can he ask her to fucking marry him like that how could she say no to it everyone's around and watching that asshole who the fuck does he think--" he was hauled back, suddenly, and found his back being pushed against Tavros' chest and the others arms wrapping around him. It was akin to telling a trained dog no, and to sit, he just stood there with his eyes widened and staring vacantly ahead.

And then Tavros brought his hand up and gently pushed it through his hair. "Shhhhh..." he whispered. "Deep breaths, Gamzee... this is meant to be a good day, yes...?"

It was meant to be of course it was. The day of the parade and his date with the man he'd been crushing on like a hopeless teenager. Hell, they'd just made out a little and it had been so amazing and mind blowing but they'd been interrupted when the music had stopped and Cronus' voice had filled the air instead. And now he'd just proposed to his sister who of course said yes how could she not?

When he turned his head he saw Cronus and Kurloz, who had left the stage, being greeted by Kanaya, Rose, and a good number of other people. Most taking quick photos of them, no doubt they'd be posted online in seconds. If not the whole proposal itself, knowing today's people.

"Gamzee." Kurloz smiled as she approached the group, happy to see him back after such a shocking moment not too long ago but she couldn't help but stop and raised a brow upon seeing her brother being held in place by Tavros. "What the Hell is happening here...?"

"What the Hell is happening up there!" Gamzee gestured to the stage where another band was moving on to set up for the next number. "He fuckin' coerced you sis, he made you go and say yes!"

She rolled her eyes. "Gamzee, Cronus did not coerce me into any marriage proposal. He asked me to marry him a fortnight ago."

"Huh?" Karkat asked.

Kurloz shrugged, glancing over to Cronus who was talking to his band members excitedly. "Yes. He took me to this restaurant down by the pier and he asked me to marry him. Told me that he had been wanting to ask for so long but never felt it was right. When I said yes he then said he wanted to make a more public proposal and, well. What with the parade coming soon and his being on stage he wanted to propose up on stage, for all to see. Honestly I found it flattering." she smiled, faintly, turning back to her brother.

"Flattering." Gamzee grumbled, bringing his hands up to rest them against Tavros' forearms.

"...is he literally holding you back so you don't start a fight with Cronus?" Kurloz asked, finally taking in the sight before her of her younger brother being restrained by Tavros.

"Maybe."

"Oh my God." she pressed her palm against her forehead. "Incredible."

"Why yes I am." Gamzee shot back.

"I am _not_ having this conversation right now. You've never liked him. Hell," Kurloz threw a hand widely, glaring at her brother. "You never liked any of the men I've gotten involved with, you literally drove my first boyfriend away! And now, I have him. Cronus loves me, and do you KNOW how hard that is for someone like me? Do you know how hard it is, being a transexual woman and finding a man who is okay with that? Do you know how transphobic the queer community is? No. No you don't." she moved in suddenly, finger reaching out and got in close to Gamzee, eyes looking like a burning fire that Tavros wanted to back away from immediately. Karkat, meanwhile, excused himself all but immediately from the conversation since he didn't want to be here to witness this.

Kurloz only continued. "I have been threatened. I have been tailed. I have been verbally, and physically, abused. What few men I have found have left me, and I find this one. This one guy who I feel happy with, who feels like a missing piece to who I really am and he accepts and loves and treats me in ways no man has ever done before. Least of all you. Now quit being a fucking child and seeing me as nothing more than your sister who needs protecting because let me tell you? I've been protecting myself my entire life and I don't need you doing it."

With that she turned around and stormed her way through the crowd, all but grabbed Cronus' arm and yanked him away from whoever he was talking to (Terezi and Nepeta who had been gushing about something or another) and the two vanished into the crowd.

"...so uh." Tavros started, finally, after feeling the breath return to his lungs, "Can I let you go?"

Gamzee made a small noise and even when Tavros' arms unwrapped from him he remained leaning on him. "...I just done fucked up a whole lot didn't I?" he asked, quietly.

"Well. I would not say a whole lot. But there is a little bit of fucking up there." Tavros offered, meekly.

"Fuuuuuck." he pushed his hands to his eyes, pulled away from Tavros, and shook his head. "Shit. I'm the worst brother ever."

"Noooo," Tavros answered, moving forward to rub his hands against his shoulders. "Not the worst. Hardly the worst."

"You're lucky you're hot or I'd be super mad at you right now."

Tavros attempted a shrug, and smile, before frowning a little. "Have uh, have you two fought like this before?"

Gamzee hesitated, before giving a weak shrug in answer. Siblings fought. This was a key stone of life when you grew up with somebody. Kurloz had always been around, as far back as Gamzee could remember there had always been Kurloz. Sure, once upon a time he called her his big brother and even after she'd asked him to refer to 'her' as 'she', and what not, he'd refused and to be an asshole had called her 'him' instead. That had caused a lot of fights but at that point in his life Gamzee was all about making trouble for his sister.

Had he ever properly apologized about that to her? No, he hadn't. He'd run off with the wrong crowd, had been out all nights, refused her calls, got into drugs, and the first real honest conversation they properly shared in years had been when he'd been in hospital recovering from a gunshot wound to the stomach.

Needless to say a near death experience had strengthened their relationship a lot. At least he thought it had. He'd turned into a brother who didn't like his sisters boyfriends. He never thought any of them deserved to know her, to love her, to have her. Now he'd upset her on the very day that should have been all about her.

"I'm gonna have to call her about this." he mumbled.

"Well, when I have fights with my brother I give him a cooling off period before I try to talk to him again." Tavros offered.

"You got a brother?" Gamzee asked, eyes widening slightly.

"No changing the subject, now."

Damn, he really needed it. But Gamzee pushed his hands through his tangled mess of hair, nodding his head. "Shit, yeah you're right. I gotta just give her some time to get over this so I can talk to her proper and.. yeah. Apologize for bein' such a shit brother for so long."

Karkat, cautiously, approached the two. "So is it safe to re-enter this part of reality or should I go back to working my ways into the good books with Equius Zahhak?" he asked, bluntly.

"It's safe." Tavros smiled, finding Karkat's something like a crush on his co-worker both amusing and kind of adorable. It was rare Equius got people being so interested and 'into' him though he wondered how he felt about this. Probably best to ask later when Karkat wasn't within hearing range.

"Shit man. That was like a storm in a bottle." Karkat said, glancing in the direction of where Kurloz had dragged Cronus.

"Yeah well I kinda deserved it." Gamzee replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Was ten kinds an asshole."

"Maybe but you're one of the better assholes I know." offered Karkat, reaching out to give his friend a pat on the back.

"Hey... what's that?" Equius had been rejoining the group, drink in hand, but something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

They all turned and, through the crowd, one could make out something that looked like a scuffle. There was shouting though it was indistinct.

Karkat frowned. "Fuck, why can't we have a nice day out? See," he smacked Equius in the arm, "This is why we can't have nice things shit like this always ends up happening."

"The parade did attract a lot of negative attention, perhaps it followed it here." Equius commented gravely. Was the yelling getting louder?

"Are there uh, are there normally things like this happening?" Tavros asked warily since it did indeed feel like it was growing louder. Was that a scream?

"I have never heard of--" Equius began but then he saw Terezi rip away from Nepeta and push her way through the crowd shouting orders to make way for her. Did she have a badge on her? Nepeta was following and that gave him reason enough to follow as well. "Sorry. I must.." but he didn't explain the rest as he trailed after his sister.

"Maybe we should move." Tavros said, reaching for Gamzee, and began to tug him away since it seemed as though the rough housing was drawing more attention which meant more people moving towards it, which made the crowd larger.

"Yeah that, that sounds like a good idea." frowned Gamzee, instinctively reaching over to Karkat to grab the shorter man's arm like a concerned mother who didn't want her son lost in a crowd. He was pretty short, and losing him in a crowd would be horribly difficult for them, considering one normally wants to locate what they loose in a crowd.

Karkat, reluctantly, followed after Gamzee and Tavros as they moved through the crowd. Was that the sound of sirens in the air now? Police, from the sound of it.

"Man, we should go hang by the river 'n wait for this shit to-" Gamzee began but stopped since his phone in his pocket suddenly buzzed and rang out that wonderful tone of Nicki Minaj's verse from Monster. "What the." he reached for it and held his phone up for a moment. He'd registered that song to come up when Kurloz was calling but why would she ring now? He pressed the answer button. "Kurloz are you--"

Tavros had never seen colour drain from somebody's face so quickly before. He'd seen Rufioh get sick, violently sick, and have all colour leave his face but this was like watching the colour adjustment on a screen being turned so suddenly that all colour vanished. His grip on the phone visibly tightened, and next thing he knew Gamzee was moving back towards the crowd, phone still to his ear, leaving the rest behind. "Wait there-don't fucking move I'm coming--shit where is-"

"What's happened?" Karkat demanded, not wasting time with formalities, following him immediately, wanting to know what the Hell was going on and why they were going towards the trouble instead of moving away from it as fast as their legs could take them. Tavros hesitated before following quietly.

Gamzee just shook his head; through the phone Karkat could barely make out the voice of somebody who sounded like they were crying. He couldn't make out who it was since as they pushed forward in the crowd the noise around them grew, as did the sounds coming from the phone.

"Stay back I said get back, keep your distance!" he recognized Sollux's voice break its way through the crowd, swiftly supported by Terezi's.

"The paramedics have been notified just move back now or my warnings aren't going to cut it any more people!"

"Paramedics what-" Karkat started but revelation struck him like a lightning bolt out of a clear blue sky. There was a perimeter, he saw blood on the grass, and when he had to fight his way around Gamzee he wished he hadn't because the last thing he wanted to see was Cronus lying on the ground with blood pouring from his stomach as Kurloz was clutching at his unmoving form.

Her screams could have deafened the world.


	13. Stresses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So begins a waiting game at the hospital as everyone awaits to find out just how Cronus is, and if he's going to pull through the ordeal.

The trip to the hospital was more or less a blur for everyone. All that Gamzee could rightly recall was the flashing of the lights of not only the police cars, but the ambulance. Kurlozs grasping hands and screams had gone on for far longer than he'd wanted but nothing he could say could calm her. She'd hit him, he could still feel the sting of it against his face and chest but he couldn't feel angry at her. He wasn't sure just what to feel right now. It almost felt as if Kurloz was feeling all of the emotions necessary leaving him to be lost and confused.

Hospitals had never been his favourite places to visit. He'd spent far too long in it after his incident, recovering from the wound healing. While good had come of it, meeting Calliope, it still was a time in his life he didn't like thinking back on ever.

Now here he was again. Not as the patient, no, but as a worried friend. Here he sat in the waiting room area with Kurloz, who had been here before only years ago. She looked defeated, more so than he'd ever seen her before and he didn't know what words to say to her. Wasn't even sure if he should reach out to touch her, to offer some kind of comfort. He was just lost.

"All these fucking nurses and doctors running around and nobody can give us a clean fucking answer what is this shit I swear the taxes we pay just go to buying these people ass cleaners since they're too lazy to wipe their own asses after taking a shit!" Karkat, however, always seemed to know what words to say. He was storming around the small room, arms waving, giving voice to the rage they all felt but the only one brave enough to speak it. "And it is utter BULLSHIT," he said extra loud as he saw one nurse pass by the waiting area, "that they won't even let you in to see him at all just because what, you're not a legal spouse that shit is so ancient what was the point of today's parade if it wasn't to bring awareness to the diversity of people and their relationships?"

"Bro..." Gamzee finally spoke, "I don't. I don't like it any more than you do man but we could get thrown out if y'all make too much noise."

"Fuck them right in the ear." Karkat spat, storming over to the siblings and threw himself down onto the seat besides Gamzee. He folded his arms and leaned forward, fingers gripping his arms tightly.

Kurloz and Cronus were not married. The nurses had explained this, that as an unmarried couple who were only just recently engaged were still not acknowledged as a couple in the state's eyes. Kurloz was born a man, even if all of her documents now listed her as a woman she being what she was, she just would not be allowed into see him in the Intensive Care Unit which was where he'd been whisked to.

Gamzee glanced at Kurloz, who brought a hand up to wipe at her red, tired eyes. Again he was grabbed by the desire to touch her, to comfort his sister but he had no idea how to. What had Karkat said to her, that night that Gamzee had been found bloody and dying on Karkats door step? How had she kept it together then? Had she?

He'd never asked Karkat.

Slowly he raised his hand, readying it to stretch out towards her, but a voice cut him off.

"What the Hell are you guys doing here?"

Everyone seemed to turn as one to look at the door way leading into the waiting area. Standing there was the last person all of them expected to see.

"Eridan?" Karkat asked.

Eridan Ampora. Now, Eridan was a friend of Karkat and Gamzees who they had met in college. He was self absorbed, obnoxious, and cared for little more than his inability to get into a relationship let alone some bodys pants. His skin was dark brown, hair bleached a painfully obvious blond with a purple streak that ran through his hair which was styled into a fairly ridiculously (yet somehow nice looking) flattop. On his nose sat a pair of glasses, the black, thick, square hipster type that matched with his whole hipster appearance. His ears were pierced in multiple places, and if Karkat could remember right he'd also gotten his tongue pierced.

Probably in an attempt to make it seem as through he knew how to please somebody with his tongue even more so considering the addition in there.

"What the Hell are you doing here?" Karkat echoed back.

"Uh, hello. I got an emergency call that my cousins' in here for severe injuries so of course I gotta be here since nobody else from our family is in the city much less the fuckin' state." Eridan answered, looking as if this was the most inconsiderate thing to ever happen to him.

"...cousin." Karkat said slowly.

"Yeah. Cronus." Eridan shrugged before he looked away, "I don't know where he--"

Kurloz was up, out of her seat, and grabbed Eridan by the shoulders and drew him in close. "You need to go see him right now and get your ass back here and tell me how he is."

Eridan stepped back, raising an arm and pushed her away. "Whoa who the fuck're you guy grabbing my Burberry London jacket?? Somebody get him off me..."

Gamzee was suddenly involved, pushing Eridan back. "Don't call her that, Cronus is her fucking fiance!"

"Everyone CALM DOWN."

Tavros, followed quickly by Equius, had joined the small fray. Eridan stepped away from everyone, holding his arms up in a surrender manner as Gamzee began to wish he wasn't here even more so it was just a clusterfuck and he felt like he was going to pass out but fuck at least he was in the right place to do it.

Because that's more or less what happened. Gamzee dropped to the ground. Everything from today had finally caught up with him and while the day had started wonderfully but then he'd seen Aranea and everything had gone to shit and his mind had been a horrible was nest of activity. The confusion, Cronus, the hospital, Eridans obnoxiousness and suddenly seeing Tavros here was too much.

The last thing he heard was his name being shouted by numerous voices.

~*~

"So..." Equius said, slowly, to Tavros. "Good first date?"

"Oh shut up." Tavros groaned as he rubbed his hands against his temple.

"It was going exceptionally well before. Well. The stabbing." his friend continued.

"Equius."

"Sorry, that was very low." he sighed, shaking his head. "It has just been a crazy day."

"Tell me about it." Tavros murmured. "And now Gamzee's in emergency from passing out, this.. Eridan guy's checking on Cronus. It's a madhouse."

"Imagine what the media will say."

"Wh... what?" he turned his head, looking to Equius.

"Well. The media will be all over this. A stabbing at a LGBTA concert, a singer injured... I'm sure amateur footage of us is being handed into the television studios as we speak." Equius pointed out, "Since I'm pretty sure there were cameras filming us the whole time..."

Tavros groaned and leaned back, bumping his head against the wall.

"As far as first dates go, this one is by far up there as the most significant..." he murmured.

Equius reached out and gave him a gentle pat on the arm.

~*~

"I think I'm going to lose my mind." Kurloz whispered, her voice being a raspy, painful sound as she sat besides the bed where Gamzee lay still, somewhat, passed out.

"I never wanted to be here again. My brother in hospital. Me talking to you about it. Didn't we do this enough the last time?" she asked.

Karkat frowned, reaching down and moved some of Gamzees hair out of his face. "I don't know how you're holding together so fucking well to be brutally honest. Even back then you didn't react like he dd."

"Gamzee's always been... I don't know. Ugh. I just don't know." she leaned back into her chair, lifting a hand and pushed her fingers through her hair. "My fiance is in ICU and my brother in emergency today is the worst fucking day of my life."

Karkat was going to say that at least Gamzee isn't bleeding this time, but then remembered Cronus who was bleeding or had been so he kept his mouth shut.

"You're stronger than the rest of us. I know that much."

"I don't know what's holding me together any more. I really, really don't."

She looks over Gamzee again. He was laying on one of the beds in emergency, a iv drip going into one of his wrists. They had only a small curtain keeping them separated from the other people in emergency and she wished they had a proper room. Kurloz wished for a lot of things. 

She wished her mother was alive. She wished her father hadn't left, neglectful as he was he had been their father. She wished Gamzee hadn't gotten onto the road he had. She wished she hadn't lost him figuratively and then almost literally. She wished she had talked to him about the proposal so he wouldn't have gotten to stupidly upset. She wished those people hadn't grabbed at her. She wished Cronus hadn't gone at them. She wished she had been the one stabbed instead.

She wished she had been born the right gender from the start then so much of this wouldn't had happened.

Karkat lifted his head in alarm when he heard those horrible noise coming from Kurloz. You know the sounds. The sounds of somebody trying not to cry, but somebody who should most certainly be crying given the situation. Kurloz had a hand pressing against her eyes, shoulders hitched, head lowered, her whole frame was shaking and she kept making those noises.

"Oh... uh. Hey, hey..." he was not good at this stuff. Karkat Vantas, while he cared a lot about the people around him (Gamzee being in more or less the number one slot in his list of people he cared for) he just wasn't good at vocalizing it or especially consoling people. But this was different. This was meant to be a good day and had been turned into a horrible shitty one. So he reached over to her and pressed his hand to her back.

And suddenly he had Kurloz wrapped around him, her arms tightly constricting around his shoulders, the feeling of her breasts pressing against his chest and her face buried in against his neck. Oh great. Just what he wanted. But just what Kurloz wanted, and needed, so he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed at her back as he let her just cry. No telling her to stop, or that shit will be all right, because people had to cry and nobody knew if all this was going to work out.

He didn't know Cronus from a bar of soap but reality was he'd been stabbed multiple times in the stomach and he was no medical expert. How could he go and assume things will be fine? Cronus may die. He may be stuck in hospital for weeks. He might not. But to try and console Kurloz with false hopes would be a shitty thing to do so he just held her.

~*~

"All right people listen up."

It was a few hours later and, thankfully, Gamzee had come out of his stupid fainting spell and was sitting between Kurloz and Karkat. Tavros was sitting himself right next to Karkat, and besides him was Equius. Kanaya and Rose were also there, as was Nepeta. Honestly it looked as though for the few times in his life when Eridan was talking at length about something, people were listening.

If only it hadn't cost him the price of his stupid distant cousin being stabbed multiple times at a stupid gay parade.

"Doctors inform me that while Cronus is still in some pretty rough shape, he's gonna be okay."

Kurloz, who was holding Gamzees hand, tightened her grip on it immediately as she stared at Eridan.

"I mean, it's only three stab wounds to the gut. Lucky he didn't get any..." he looked to one of his hands. "Stomach acids in his blood or he would've been in for a pretty shitty time. So yeah he's gonna be in the ICU for only today before moving him through to his own room so you," he gestured vaguely to Kurloz. "can go see him whenever you want. So yeah but right now, no flowers, no chocolates, no nothing like that since that ICU place is super strict. Do you know how many times I had to wash my hands in there it was ridiculous."

"That's why it's the Intensive Care Unit you shit knocker." Karkat rolled his eyes.

"It's crazy," Eridan walked ahead and sat down besides Equius, even if he hadn't been formally introduced at all, and placed a hand to his arm, patting his forearm as he looked up at him. "Isn't it, big guy?"

"Not crazy at all." Equius answered stiffly, wanting to pull his arm away but didn't want to come off as rude.

"What's your name any way?" he asked, not quite so subtly looking him over as well as the guy sitting next to him even if that other one wasn't even looking at him anymore but towards Gamzee.

"Equius." Karkat was suddenly there, and Eridan hadn't even seen him approach at all. Almost like he immediately transported himself to be standing there. "Come help me bring drinks to everyone yeah?"

"Yes. Of course."

And Equius was up and following Karkat, somehow fighting the urge to look back at the strange Eridan man whose eyes he could feel burning at the back of his neck.

Eridan scoffed and looked over to the remaining group of people. The two women were talking to the shemale thing, rubbing their back and talking quietly while Gamzee was too busy talking to the other hot guy.

"Oh yes I see I outlived my use here that's fine." Eridan scoffed as he stood up, adjusting his scarf. "Guess I'll just piss off!" he said, loudly, to which he got shushed by one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen in her life.

"Today has been a rough day for everyone," Kanaya said smoothly. "And while we appreciate you getting us feedback as to Cronus' condition, right now we need to focus on Kurloz. She," and she purposely emphasized the 'she' since she'd been informed on how Eridan had called Kurloz some pretty derogatory things before, "has been through a lot. And she's my main concern. I'm sorry if I come off as rude but my friend needs my help and I don't have time to make small talk."

"I'll call you." Gamzee spoke up suddenly, moving around Tavros to look at Eridan as he walked up to him. "Okay Eridan? I'm. I'm motherfucking sorry y'all had to be dragged here from wherever the fuck you were but we got shit to do."

Eridan huffed. "Fine. But at least you apologized." he shook Gamzees hand awkwardly, waved, and walked out the room wondering just what the hell kind of people Karkat was getting reeled in with. He never used to hang around with people like that Kurloz guy-girl-whatever. He didn't even know Cronus was dating someone like that either. After all, they were very distant cousins. You only saw one another at Christmas, and even then it was lucky to happen if he could get over to the family house from wherever in the country he was at the time.

He huffed and turned the corner and came to an abrupt stop.

Public displays of affection were never his cup of tea but seeing Karkat kissing the towering mass of blond muscle that Equius was, well. That wasn't something he'd expect to see today. He stared, momentarily frozen in place because he hadn't seen Karkat interested in anyone before. And believe you me, he had tried to get into Karkats good books like that. But every attempt was rebuffed and rejected so while friendship was nice something more would have been appreciated beyond belief so to see this guy with the bleached hair and dorky glasses (unlike his own which were totally stylish and and hip) was a shock.

When motor skills returned he chose not to draw attention to the situation and in fact just leave. He'll message Karkat later, asking what this Equius guy was and what the hell all this was. As elaborately absorbed as Eridan was, he wasn't about to start another big deal in a hospital. Last time, Gamzee fainted. Didn't want to see Karkat, or that big guy, faint.

"Okay, okay, okay..." Karkat mumbled as his hands pushed against Equius' chest, pushing him back, and pulling away. "That was. That was really great and all but I don't think doing that in the middle of a hospital lobby was the smartest thing we ever did."

"I-I'm sorry." Equius spluttered, his hands trailing down Karkats sides before he pulled them away entirely. "You were just--you look strained and exhausted and how you were explaining yourself I felt..."

"You felt kissing me spontaneously would fix it?" he asked.

"..."

"Granted, I. Am somewhat attracted to you." Karkat said, glancing around seeing if anyone he knew had walked in on that. "Okay. Very attracted to you. I don't figure that was the right way of doing anything."

"I am so sorry normally I would never have done anything like that before in my life," Equius said, wringing his hands together. "I've never kissed anyone before. Much less a m-man before. But I just. I've felt a deep attraction to you and a strong affection and I wanted to help you feel better. I couldn't think of anything else. I'm sorry, I understand if you don't want to see me again I certainly wouldn't want to see me again I can leave--"

"Whoa. Whoa whoa." he reached out, touching one of Equius' arms. "Pull on the reigns asshole I'm not saying fuck off and never talk to me again. Stop the pity train at the station."

"Sorry."

"Stop apologizing."

"...sorry?"

Karkat sighed, and tugged at his arm, trying to pull him to a seat. It didn't work initially, but Equius fell into step and soon sat down besides him. They sat in silence, for a while, before Karkat looks at him.

"You never kissed anyone?"

Equius answered by shaking his head.

"Huh." Karkat folded his arms, and his legs, as he stared ahead vacantly for a moment. "So... wait. Are you... bi? Gay? I don't even know."

When he didn't get an answer he looked to Equius to see the other staring at his feet, his large hands clamped together. His grip so strong his hands were turning white. "I don't know." he said, quietly. "I. I've felt attraction to women. But towards men I feel... more deeply... interested. But I don't know if it is proper. To feel that way."

"Dude you just kissed me spontaneously I think that should tell you what you really want."

"That was improper of me." Equius frowned, hitching his shoulders up. "I should not have. No matter how much I have wanted to."

"So do you like me or don't you?" Karkat asked, one to get to the point. "Because if you're into me then we could even attempt at something that resembles a relationship. If you'd be down with that." he held a hand out, gesturing vaguely. "Work shit out as we go. Unless you want us to pretend this shit never happened and we can move on with our lives and I can go back in there and support my best friend and his sister."

Equius had unclenched his hands, moving them to his knees. He'd been in a relationship years ago, when he was seven. He'd held a girls hand. They'd eaten together. But then she said it was over and he was sad but got over it. That was it. His relationship history in a few short sentences. And now this... wonderfully shouty little man was offering something like a relationship. Like training wheels on a bike. Was it beneath him to accept? Should he leap head first into a relationship? That would show confidence. Normally, he was full of that stuff but today, it was mingled and messed up.

He couldn't deny the attraction he felt towards the other. Every time their friends seemed to gather he would approach Karkat and talk with him. While they had different interests he wanted to learn more. A part of him almost wanted to say to keep this quiet but no, no that was an older part of him. The part of him who would never have thought of kissing a man ever, much less in public.

Thus he sat up straight and looked at Karkat, and stiffly nodded his head. "I would like that."

Karkat snorted. "You're so fucking serious you gotta lean to unwind a bit." he stood up, "Now come on. The guys are probably wondering why we're taking so long to get the fucking coffee. Probably think we're going to Cuba to get the coffee beans ourselves."

"That is entirely unrealistic." Equius snorted as he stood up and, like he had been doing for a while now, fell into step behind Karkat as they headed to the cafeteria.


End file.
